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BEFORE  THE 

CENTRAL  AMERICAN 
COURT  OF  JUSTICE 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA 

AGAINST 

THE  REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA 


COMPLAINT 

OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA  GROWING  OUT  OF  A  CONVEN- 
TION ENTERED  INTO  BY  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA 
WITH  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
FOR  THE  SALE  OF  THE  SAN  JUAN  RIVER  AND  OTHER 
MATTERS. 

WITH  APPENDICES 

(PRINTED  AT  THE  NATIONAL  PRINTING  OFFICE 
SAN  JOSE.  COSTA  RICA) 


TRANSLATION 


WASHINGTON 

PRESS  OF  GIBSON  BROS.,  INC. 

I916 


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C^i^TX -c^ o,  Ot-^-TTK    .n?t>' 


COMPLAINT 

OF  THE 

REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA  GROWING  OUT  OF  A 
CONVENTION  ENTERED  INTO  BY  THE  REPUB- 
LIC OF  NICARAGUA  WITH  THE  REPUBLIC  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA  FOR  THE 
SALE  OF  THE  SAN  JUAN  RIVER  AND  OTHER 
MATTERS. 

(PRINTED  AT  THE  NATIONAL  PRINTING  OFFICE 
vSAN  JOS6.  COSTA  RICA) 


TRAN?LATION 


v-? 


Union   Panamericana 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Bste   llbro  se   envia  en  canje 
de  duplicados. 


I  croft  Library 


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0 

r  PAGE. 

iVppEARANCE  OF  Counsel 5 

Legal  Antecedents 5 

I.  Cafias- Jerez  treaty 5 

^I.  Esquivel-Roman  convention 6 

^III.  Cleveland  award 6 

^  IV.  Cafias- Jerez  treaty  in  force 8 

V.  Central  American  treaty  of  Washington 9 

VI.  Nicaragua's  legal  capacity  limited lo 

VII.  Laws  of  Nicaragua 1 1 

VIII.  Silence    regarding    special    principles    of    inter- 
national law 13 

Arguments  of  Fact .14 

1.  Costa  Rica  learns  of  the  signing  of  a  treaty  by 

Nicaragua  and  the  United  States  relating  to  a 

canal  across  Nicaraguan  territory 14 

2.  Costa  Rica's  protest  to  Nicaragua 15 

.3.  Costa  Rica's  protest  to  the  United  States 15 

*4.  Nicaragua's  reply 16 

5.  La  Republica  publishes  the  text  of  a  canal  treaty.  .  17 

6.  Costa  Rica's  inquiry  addressed  to  Nicaragua.  ...  17 

7.  Nicaragua's  refusal  to  divulge  treaty 18 

8.  Canal  convention  taken  under  consideration  by 

United  States  Senate 18 

Steps  taken  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Popham •  18 

9.  New  treaty  for  canal  across  Nicaragua 19 

10.  Secrecy  maintained  by  Nicaragua  and  the  United 

States 19 

11.  Costa  Rica's   consequent  inability   to  formulate 

action 19 

12.  Period  of  inaction  on  question 19 

13.  Controversy  revives 19 

14.  Costa  Rican  Legation  at  Washington  takes  action.  21 

15.  Memorandum  of  Harry  W.  Van  Dyke,  Esquire 21 

(3) 


4 

Arguments  of  Fact — Continued.  page. 

1 6.  Ratification   of   Bryan-Chamorro   treaty   by   the 

United  States 22 

Text  of  treaty 22 

17.  Conflict  between  the  Bryan-Chamorro  treaty  and 

the  Caiias- Jerez  treaty,   the  Central  American 

treaty  of  Washington  and  the  Cleveland  award.  25 

18.  Costa  Rica's  final  protest 30 

19.  Nicaragua  persists  in  her  silence 30 

20.  Notice  from  United  States  Legation  in  Costa  Rica  3 1 

Jurisdiction  of  the  Tribunal 32 

Complaint 32 

Interlocutory  Petition : 34 

Enumeration  of  Documents  in  Appendix 34 

Copies -. 36 

Notices 36 

Further  Presentation  of  Documents 36 

Resolution  of  the  Court  on  the  Interlocutory  Peti- 
tion CONTAINED  IN  THE  CoMPLAINT 37 


< 


APPEARANCE  OF  COUNSEL. 

The  Most  ExcelIvEnt, 

The  Centrai.  American  Court  of  Justice  : 
I,  Luis  Castro  Urefia,  attorney  at  law  of  Costa  Rica  and 
special  counsel  representing  that  country  (Appendix  ''A"), 
respectfully  represent  before   this   Honorable   Court   as 
follows : 


LEGAL  ANTECEDENTS. 

I. 

CANAS7 Jerez  Treaty. 


The   Canas- Jerez   treaty  (Appendix    "B")    which  was 
_,  entered  into  between  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  on  the 
15th  day  of  April,  1858,  stipulates: 

''Art.  6.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  shall  have 
exclusive  dominion  and  the  highest  sovereignty  over 
the  waters  of  the  San  Juan  River  from  their  issue 
out  of  the  lake  to  their  discharge  into  the  Atlantic; 
but  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  shall  have  in  those 
waters  perpetual  rights  of  free  navigation  from  the 
said  mouth  of  the  river  up  to  a  point  three  English 
miles  below  Castillo  Vie  jo,  for  purposes  of  commerce, 
whether  with  Nicaragua  or  with  the  interior  of  Costa 
Rica,  over  the  San  Carlos  or  Sarapiqui  rivers  or  any 
other  course  starting  from  the  part  which  has  been 
established  as  belonging  to  that  republic  on  the  banks 
of  the  San  Juan.  The  vessels  of  either  country  may 
touch  at  any  part  of  the  banks  of  the  river  where  the 
navigation  is  common  without  paying  any  dues  except 
such  as  may  be  established  by  agreement  between  the 
two  governments. 

"Art.  8.  If  the  contracts  for  canalization  or 
transit  entered  into  before  the  Nicaraguan  govern- 
ment had  knowledge  of  this  convention  should  for 
any  cause  cease  to  be  in  force,  Nicaragua  agrees  not 
to  conclude  any  others  relating  to  the  objects  above 

(5) 


stated  without  first  hearing  the  opinion  of  the  Costa 
Rican  government  respecting  the  disadvantages  that 
may  result  to  the  two  countries,  provided  that  opinion 
be  given  within  thirty  days  after  the  request  therefor 
shall  have  been  received,  in  case  that  the  Nicaraguan 
government  should  indicate  that  a  decision  is  urgent ; 
and  in  the  event  that  the  enterprise  should  cause  no 
injury  to  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  that 
opinion  shall  be  advisory." 

n. 

EsQuivEi.- Roman  Convention. 
By  the  Esquivel-Roman  convention  (Appendix  "C") 
concluded  between  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  on  the  24th 
of  December,  1886,  both  republics  submitted  the  question 
of  the  validity  of  the  Canas-Jerez  treaty,  then  pending 
between  the  parties,  to  the  unappealable  arbitral  decision 
of  His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
Article  VII  of  that  convention  provides: 

''The  arbitral  award,  whatever  it  may  be,  shall  be 
held  as  a  perfect  and  obligatory  treaty  between  the 
contracting  parties;  it  shall  admit  of  no  appeal,  and 
its  execution  shall  commence  within  thirty  days 
after  each  government,  or  their  representatives,  shall 
have  received  notification  thereof." 

HI. 
The  ClEvEIvAnd  Award. 
The  Cleveland  award  (Appendix  "CH"),  rendered  on 
the  22nd  of  March,  1888,  by  His  Excellency  the  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  by  virtue  of  the  Esquivel- 
Roman  convention,  contains  the  following  definite 
opinions  and  findings  respecting  the  Cafias- Jerez  treaty 
in  general,  and  in  particular  respecting  the  two  articles 
of  that  treaty  above  quoted : 

''First. — The  above-mentioned  Treaty  of  Limits, 
signed  on  the  15  th  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-eight,  is  valid. 


''Second. — The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  under  said 
treaty  and  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  sixth 
article  thereof,  has  not  the  right  of  navigation  of 
the  River  San  Juan  with  vessels  of  war ;  but  she  may 
navigate  said  river  with  such  vessels  of  the  revenue 
service  as  may  be  related  to  and  connected  with  her 
enjoyment  of  the  'purposes  of  commerce'  accorded 
to  her  in  said  article,  or  as  may  be  necessary  to  the 
protection  of  said  enjoyment. 

''Third. — With  respect  to  the  points  of  doubtful 
interpretation  communicated  as  aforesaid  by  the 
Republic  of  Nicaragua,  I  decide  as  follows:  *    *    *." 

"lo.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  remains  bound 
not  to  make  any  grants  for  canal  purposes  across  her 
territory  without  first  asking  the  opinion  of  the 
Republic  of  Costa  Rica,  as  provided  in  Article  VIII 
of  the  Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15  th  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty- eight.  The  natural 
rights  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  alluded  to  in 
the  said  stipulation  are  the  rights  which,  in  view  of 
the  boundaries  fixed  by  the  said  Treaty  of  Limits, 
she  possesses  in  the  soil  thereby  recognized  as  belong- 
ing exclusively  to  her;  the  rights  which  she  possesses 
in  the  harbors  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  and  Salinas  Bay; 
and  the  rights  which  she  possesses  in  so  much  of  the 
river  San  Juan  as  lies  more  than  three  English  miles 
below  Castillo  Viejo,  measuring  from  the  exterior 
fortifications  of  the  said  castle  as  the  same  existed  in 
the  year  1858;  and  perhaps  other  rights  not  here 
particularly  specified.  These  rights  are  to  be  deemed 
injured  in  any  case  where  the  territory  belonging  to 
the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  occupied  or  flooded; 
where  there  is  an  encroachment  upon  either  of  the 
said  harbors  injurious  to  Costa  Rica;  or  where  there 
is  such  an  obstruction  or  deviation  of  the  River  San 
Juan  as  to  destroy  or  seriously  impair  the  navigation 
of  the  said  river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point 
where  Costa  Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same. 

"11.  The  Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15  th  day  of  April, 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  does  not 
give  to  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  the  right  to  be  a 


8 

party  to  grants  which  Nicaragua  may  make  for  inter- 
oceanic  canals;  though  in  cases  where  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal  will  involve  an  injury  to  the  natural 
rights  of  Costa  Rica,  her  opinion  or  advice,  as  men- 
tioned in  Article  VIII  of  the  treaty,  should  be  more 
than  'advisory'  or  'consultative.'  It  would  seem  in 
such  cases  that  her  consent  is  necessary,  and  that 
she  may  thereupon  demand  compensation  for  the 
concession  she  is  asked  to  make;  but  she  is  not 
entitled  as  a  right  to  share  in  the  profits  that  the 
Republic  of  Nicaragua  may  reserve  for  herself  as  a 
compensation  for  such  favors  and  privileges  as  she, 
in  her  turn,  may  concede." 

IV.  The  Canas-JerEz  Treaty  in  Force. 

The  Canas-Jerez  treaty  has  preserved  in  its  entirety  all 
of  its  obligatory  force  from  the  time  of  its  ratification  down 
to  the  present  moment,  as  well  by  virtue  of  the  categorical 
decisions  of  the  Cleveland  award  which  I  have  just  quoted, 
as — before  and  after  the  rendition  of  that  award — by 
reason  of  the  very  nature  of  its  stipulations  which  are 
permanent  in  character.  So  that,  in  the  absence  of  the 
mutual  consent  of  the  contracting  parties,  that  treaty  can 
in  no  case  and  at  no  time  be  denounced  or  held  as  an 
expired  contract,  nor  can  the  agreements  therein  con- 
tained be  evaded  so  long  as  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua 
continue  to  be  free  nations.  The  validity  and  effective- 
ness of  that  pact  is  absolute  and  unqualified  by  any  fixed 
or  determined  term;  these  qualities  have  been  recognized 
and  proclaimed  by  the  arbitral  decision  of  a  chief  of  state 
as  honorable  and  of  as  high  a  prestige  as  any  in  the  entire 
world. 

Inexplicable  to  my  government,  therefore,  is  the  fact 
(to  which  I  will  revert  later  on)  that  Nicaragua  has  nego- 
tiated respecting  a  canal  across  her  territory  in  pretended 
disregard  of  Costa  Rica  and  with  the  very  nation  whose 
government,  as  such,  by  agreed  designation  of  both  con- 


tending  parties,  rendered  the  award  which,  harmonizing 
with  the  Cafias-Jerez  treaty,  disquaUfied  her  from  so 
negotiating  without  the  advisory — indeed,  the  decisive — 
opinion  of  the  Repubhc  of  Costa  Rica.  I  say  the  "deci- 
sive" opinion  because,  to  my  Government,  it  would  seem 
to  be  impossible  that  a  third  party  could  construct  a 
canal  for  navigation  through  the  San  Juan  River  route 
without  injuring  by  that  work,  or  as  a  result  thereof,  the 
contractual  and  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica  which  were 
established  by  the  Cafias-Jerez  treaty  and  confirmed  by 
the  Cleveland  award. 

There  can  be  no  possible  doubt  about  this.  If  the 
United  States  of  America,  or  an  assignee  of  its  rights — 
for  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  transfer  of  such  rights — 
should  adopt  for  the  canal  the  San  Juan  River  route,  it  is 
obvious  that,  the  United  States  and  Nicaragua  not  having 
expressly  made  any  reservation  that  would  guarantee  to 
Costa  Rica  the  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  conferred 
upon  her  by  the  Cafias-Jerez  treaty,  that  enjoyment  must 
be  subject  hereafter  to  the  mere  good  will  of  the  United 
States  in  securing  for  her  those  advantages.  In  a  word, 
Nicaragua  has  bargained  with  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica concerning,  or  has  sold  to  the  latter,  the  San  Juan 
River,  without  reserve,  as  though  she  were  its  absolute 
owner,  together  with  its  banks,  and  Costa  Rica,  who  pos- 
sesses the  incontestable  right  to  navigate  freely  the  greater 
part  of  those  waters,  and  who  is  the  sovereign  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  southern  banks  of  that  river,  has  been 
completely  ignored  in  the  transaction. 

V. 

Centrai.  American  Treaty  of  Washington. 
Article  IX  of  the  General  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friend- 
ship, concluded  the  20th  of  December,  1907,  between  the 
five  republics  that  formerly  made  up  the  Federal  Republic 
of  Central  America  (Appendix  *'D"),  provides: 


lO 

'*The  merchant  vessels  of  the  signatory  countries 
shall,  in  the  seas,  coasts  and  ports  of  the  said  countries, 
be  considered  as  national  vessels;  they  shall  enjoy 
the  same  exemptions,  privileges  and  concessions  that 
pertain  to  such  vessels,  and  shall  not  be  required  to 
pay  dues,  nor  shall  any  other  charges  be  imposed 
upon  them  than  those  paid  by  and  imposed  on  the 
vessels  of  the  respective  countries." 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  respecting  navigation  any  sub- 
sequent treaty  or  convention  that  Nicaragua  may  have 
subscribed  to  or  to  which  she  may  in  the  future  subscribe, 
and  that  fails  to  reserve  to  the  merchant  vessels  of  Costa 
Rica,  Salvador,  Guatemala  and  Honduras  plying  her  waters 
or  anchoring  therein,  privileges  and  advantages  identical 
with  those  enjoyed  by  her  own  vessels,  violates  openly  the 
article  above  quoted. 

And  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  recall  at  this 
moment  that  the  Treaty  and  Conventions  of  Washington, 
of  1907,  between  the  republics  born  out  of  the  extinct 
Federation  of  Central  America,  were  conceived,  debated 
and  concluded  through  the  friendly  mediation  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  America.  These 
conventions  have,  therefore,  the  moral  guaranty  of  that 
great  nation. 

VI. 

Nicaragua's  Legai^  Capacity  Limited. 

From  the  foregoing  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Nica- 
ragua, respecting  all  matters  looking  to  a  canal  across  her 
territory,  and,  in  general,  respecting  everything  relating 
to  navigation  of  her  waters,  is  limited  in  her  sovereignty 
by  the  treaties  and  conventions  above  pointed  out,  for 
those  pacts  necessarily  modify  her  legal  capacity  by  sub- 
jecting it  to  the  agreements  solemnly  entered  into. 


II 
VII. 

Laws  of  Nicaragua. 

Note  also  Article  2479  of  the  Civil  Code  of  Nicaragua, 
promulgated  on  the  5th  of  February,  1904,  and  since  that 
'date  in  full  force: 

' '  All  contracts  legally  entered  into  are  laws  binding 
upon  the  contracting  parties,  and  may  not  be  invali- 
dated except  upon  mutual  consent  and  for  lawful 
cause." 

The  earlier  civil  code  of  that  republic,  adopted  in  1871 
and  with  slight  modifications  similar  to  Bello's  Chilean 
code,  does  not  lay  down  this  principle  in  such  precise 
form;  but  its  essence  is  to  be  found  in  several  of  its  pro- 
visions. 

Prior  to  1871  Nicaragua  had  no  civil  code  properly  so- 
called,  but  was  governed  by  the  ancient  laws  of  Spain, 
with  variations  and  amplifications  resulting  from  single 
and  occasional  laws  that  never  reached  the  form  or  dignity 
of  a  real  code. 

The  old  laws  of  Spain  consecrated  the  contract  as  the 
principal  form  of  obligation,  even  when  literal  proof  thereof 
was  not  to  be  found. 

"Every  pleyto"^  entered  into  lawfully  between  two 
men,  whether  in  writing  or  without  writing,  even 
though  penalty  be  not  provided  for,  shall  be  firmly 
kept,  and  the  Alcalde  shall  cause  it  to  be  kept;  and 
if  penalty  has  been  provided  for  in  the  pleyto  (contract), 
whosoever  goes  against  the  contract,  incurs  the  pen- 
alty as  expressed  in  the  contract."  (Fuero  Real,  Book 
I,  title  XI,  Law  I.) 

*It  is  unnecessary  to  recall  that,  in  the  ancient  Spanish,  "pleyto"  signified 
compact,  agreement,  adjustment,  treaty  or  bargain,  in  the  period  of  the 
King  Don  Alfonso  IX — 1 172-1230. 


12 

''When  it  appears  that  one  man  wishes  to  obligate 
himself  to  another  by  a  promise,  or  by  some  con- 
tract, or  in  any  other  manner,  he  will  be  bound 
thereby  to  those  to  whom  he  is  obligated,  and  no  excep- 
tion may  be  opposed  that  was  not  stipulated;  as  for 
instance  promising  with  certain  solemnities  of  law ;  or 
that  the  obligation  of  the  contract  was  made  between 
absent  persons;  or  that  it  was  made  before  a  public 
scrivener  or  before  some  other  person  empowered  in 
the  name  of  another  when  between  absentees;  or 
that  one  has  obligated  himself  to  give,  or  to  do,  a 
certain  thing  to  another.  But  any  obligation  or  con- 
tract shall  be  binding  that  was  made  in  any  manner 
that  showed  that  one  wished  to  be  obligated  to  another 
and  make  a  contract  with  him."  (Ordenamiento  de 
Alcald,  Single  I^aw,  Title  XVI.) 

**  When  it  appears  that  one  wished  to  obligate  him- 
self to  another  by  promise,  or  by  any  contract,  or 
in  any  other  manner,  he  will  be  bound  to  fulfill  that 
which  he  obligated  himself  to  do,  and  no  exception 
may  be  opposed  that  was  not  made  a  stipulation,  as 
for  instance,  promising  with  certain  solemnity  of  law, 
or  that  the  contract  or  obligation  was  made  between 
absent  persons,  or  that  it  was  not  made  before  a 
public  scrivener,  or  that  it  was  made  before  some 
other  private  person  in  the  name  of  another  when 
between  absentees,  or  that  one  has  obligated  himself 
to  give,  or  do,  to  another  a  certain  thing.  We  order, 
that  the  said  obligation  and  contract  are  binding  in 
whatever  way  it  appears  that  one  wished  to  obligate 
himself  to  another."  {Novisima  Recopilacion,  Book 
Tenth,  Title  First,  Law  I.) 

Such,  then,  is  the  atmosphere  in  which  Nicaragua  was 
born  and  in  which  she  has  lived;  and  when  the  Cafias- 
Jerez  treaty  was  signed  and  ratified,  and  before  that  time, 
since  and  always,  the  inviolability  of  the  pledged  word 
has  been  one  of  the  dogmas  of  that  country,  whether  it  be 
given  in  writing  or  verbally,  according  to  the  dispositions 
of  the  Spanish  laws  that  stood  as  exponents  of  the  nobility 


13 

of  the  kings  that  promulgated  them — and  those  kings 
were  the  greatest  gentlemen  of  their  times.  Nor  has  our 
sister  on  the  North  ever  sought  to  withdraw  herself  from 
the  standards  of  the  law,  and  I  cherish  the  hope  that  she 
will  not  in  this  case  make  an  exception  in  her  course. 


viii.  slivence  regarding  special  principles  o^ 
International  Law. 

I  do  not  invoke  in  this  petition  any  special  principle  of 
international  law,  for,  since  Costa  Rica's  rights  are  based 
upon  perfect  contracts  signed  with  and  by  Nicaragua,  it 
is,  in  my  opinion,  to  them  alone  that  we  need  address  our- 
selves for  a  solution  of  the  differences  here  raised.  The 
contract  is  the  supreme  law  between  the  parties,  whether 
they  be  simple  individuals  or  political  entities.  In  other 
words,  the  case  I  am  going  to  put  sub  judice  is  one  of  pure 
civil  law,  and  not  only  the  body  of  the  laws  of  Nicaragua, 
but  that  of  Costa  Rica,  as  well  as  those  of  all  other  nations 
of  the  globe,  uphold  the  contract  as  the  juridical  bond 
between  parties.  With  respect  to  states,  the  contract 
entered  into  by  them  is  something  more  than  an  obliga- 
tory tie;  respect  for  the  substance  of  the  agreement,  and 
its  faithful  fulfillment,  are  corner  stones  of  national  honor, 
and  no  defense  suffices  for  failure  to  observe  this  canon. 

Nor  is  there  any  code  of  positive  international  law  that 
must  be  adhered  to  by  states  under  appropriate  sanction ; 
wherefore  the  so-called  ''principles  of  international  law" 
are  not  precise,  but  are  rather  opinions  more  or  less  author- 
itative and  discreet  submitted  by  the  authors  on  that  sub- 
ject. The  genuine  positive  precept  in  this  sense  is  the 
contract,  when  there  is  one,  and  about  it  the  nations 
must  range  themselves.  The  opinions  of  the  authors 
are,  of  course,  of  great  importance,  but  only  when  they 
treat  of  contractual  relations,  or  when  no  specific  conven- 


14 

tion  is  the  medium  between  the  disagreeing  parties,  for, 
if  the  contract  exists,  its  terms  are  the  exclusive  bases 
of  understanding  and  opinion  in  the  difficulty. 

And,  finally,  it  would  be  rather  presumptuous  to  collate 
a  mass  of  elementary  authorities  and  seek  therewith  to 
persuade  the  eminent  judges  of  this  High  Tribunal,  who 
unquestionably  must  know  more  than  any  one  else 
regarding  technical  subjects  in  order  to  fulfill  their  delicate 
mission. 

Nevertheless,  if  hereafter  I  should  find  it  necessary  to 
reinforce  my  arguments  as  a  result  of  the  reply  of  the  other 
side,  I  shall  then  justify  myself  to  the  point  of  satiety  and 
show  that  the  opinions  I  have  stated  in  this  work,  respect- 
ing the  lore  on  the  question,  are  the  pure  reflection  of  sane 
criterions;  that  is,  of  the  doctrine  put  forth  under  the 
authority  of  the  most  conspicuous  writers  on  the  law  of 
all  countries  and  of  all  periods. 

ARGUMENTS  OF  FACT. 

I. 

Costa  Rica  i^earns  of  the  signing  of  a  Treaty  by 
Nicaragua  and  the  United  States  reIvATing  to 
a  canal  across  nicaraguan  territory. 

^X#  In  the  beginning  of  April  of  1913  the  knowledge  came 
to  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica,  through  private  sources, 
that  the  Most  Excellent  Legislative  Assembly  of  Nica- 
ragua had  just  given  its  approval,  in  secret  session,  to  a 
treaty  (also  secret)  concluded  between  the  governments  of 
that  Republic  and  that  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
among  other  things,  for  the  opening  of  an  interoceanic 
canal  through  Nicaraguan  territory. 


15 

Costa  Rica's  Protest  to  Nicaragua. 

That  notice,  which  was  the  first  Costa  Rica  had  received 
on  the  subject,  moved  my  Government  to  instruct  its 
Minister  in  Nicaragua  to  address  to  the  Government  of  that 
repubhc  a  formal  diplomatic  protest  against  the  execution 
on  her  part  of  the  said  canal  pact,  on  the  ground  that  that 
act  was,  and  still  is,  in  the  opinion  of  my  Government,  a 
flagrant  violation  of  the  existing  treaties  between  the  two 
countries  and  of  the  Cleveland  award.  The  Costa  Rican 
Minister,  in  obedience  to  these  instructions,  presented  to  j^ 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua,  on  the  27th  of  that  month  ^ 
of  April,  the  protest  with  which  he  was  charged  (Appen- 
dix ''F"). 


Costa  Rica's  Protest  to  the  United  States. 

At  the  same  time  the  Costa  Rican  Minister  Plenipoten- 
tiary at  Washington,  also  in  obedience  to  instructions  from 
my  Government,  lodged  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  of  America  a  similar  diplomatic  protest  against  the 
conclusion  on  the  part  of  Nicaragua  of  that  canal  conven- 
tion, which  convention — as  it  was  with  due  propriety 
declared  to  the  Governments  of  Nicaragua  and  the  United 
States  of  America — could  not  but  be  held  to  be  void  in 
point  of  law  for  failure  of  legal  capacity  in  Nicaragua  to 
enter  into  negotiations  for  that  purpose  without  pre- 
viously having  consulted  the  opinion  of  Costa  Rica  thereon, 
or  even  having  sought  the  acquiescence  of  my  Government 
in  the  respective  stipulations  (Appendix  *'G"). 


i6 

4. 
Nicaragua's  RepIvY. 

His  Excellency  the  Nicaraguan  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Relations,  in  his  note  of  June  12,  1913,  replied  to  the 
protest  of  the  Costa  Rican  Minister  informing  him  that 
* '  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  exercised  an  incontestably 
sovereign  right  in  concluding  with  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  the  convention  of  February  8th  last, 
which  is  being  kept  secret  for  considerations  of  an  inter- 
national character,  binding  not  alone  upon  that  Govern- 
ment; but  declares  positively  that  in  entering  into  that 
pact  it  has  not  ignored  any  right  belonging  to  Costa  Rica, 
nor  has  it  committed  *  *  *  any  violation  of  the 
existing  treaties  between  the  two  nations";  that  "that 
convention  *  *  *  ^g  intended  to  procure  so  far  as  it 
can  the  construction  of  the  interoceanic  canal  over  a  route 
exclusively  Nicaraguan";  that  ''it  hardly  deals  with  a 
preferential  right,  granted  to  the  United  States,  to  open 
an  interoceanic  waterway,  following  a  route  traced 
through  the  national  territory,  when  the  fact  is  that  the 
construction  is  to  be  resolved  upon,  by  agreement  of  both 
governments  and  the  conditions  under  which  the  canal 
is  to  be  constructed,  operated  and  maintained,  are  to  be 
determined  between  the  contracting  parties  by  a  further 
convention  or  treaty;"  that  "dealing,  therefore,  with  a 
simple  option  for  a  canal  concession,  Nicaragua,  as  the 
sole  sovereign  of  the  territory  that  is  to  serve  as  the  site 
of  the  great  enterprise,  is  wholly  within  her  incontestable 
rights  in  entering  into  that  promise" ;  and  that  "in  view  of 
the  foregoing,  *  *  *  ^j^^  views  contained  in  the  note 
to  which  this  is  a  reply  are  entirely  unfounded,  since  it 
was  shown  by  an  abundance  of  reasons  and  arguments  on 
the  conclusion  of  the  said  convention  that,  on  the  part 
of  Nicaragua,   there  has  been  no  violation  of  existing 


17 

treaties  or  discourtesy  towards  Costa  Rica,  nor  any  forget- 
fulness  or  ignoring  of  her  legitimate  rights"  (Appendix  "H") . 
It  will  be  noted  that  I  have  quoted  no  more  from  the 
reply  under  discussion  than  suffices  for  the  purposes  of 
this  work.  Reference  is  made,  however,  to  the  original 
or  to  the  true  copy  attached  hereto. 

5. 
'Xa  Repubuca"   Pubushes  the;  Text  of  a  CanaIv 

Treaty. 
La  Repuhlica,  an  independent  daily  paper  of  this  city, 
in  its  No.  8,810,  of  July  4,  1913,  published  the  text  of  the 
treaty  which,  according  to  that  newspaper,  had  been  signed 
by  the  governments  of  Nicaragua  and  the  United  States 
of  America  relating  to  the  opening  of  the  canal  in  ques- 
tion (Appendix  'X").  It  is  clear  that  my  Government 
did  not  attribute  any  authenticity  to  the  publication,  the 
source  of  which  was  unknown  to  it;  but  I  do  desire  to 
state  that  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Government  of 
Nicaragua,  fully  informed  of  the  event,  disavowed  the 
publication,  either  by  the  press  or  in  other  form,  and  that 
La  Repuhlica  was  a  newspaper  violently  opposed  to  the 
Costa  Rican  Government. 

6. 

Costa  Rica's  Inquiry  Addressed  to  Nicaragua. 

Under  date  of  July  30,  above  mentioned,  the  Costa 
Rican  Minister  in  Nicaragua,  in  obedience  to  instructions 
from  my  Government,  transmitted  to  the  Government  of 
that  republic  a  copy  of  the  newspaper  referred  to,  together 
with  a  note  in  which  that  Government  is  requested  to 
''state  categorically  whether  the  text  of  said  convention 
is  authentic,  not  only  in  general  but  in  each  of  its  clauses, 
and,  if  not,  to  indicate  the  corresponding  corrections 
(Appendix  'I')." 


i8 

7. 

Nicaragua's  RefusaIv  to  Divulge  Treaty. 

His  Excellency  the  Nicaraguan  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Relations,  on  the  4th  of  August,  191 3,  replied  to  that 
communication  of  the  Costa  Rican  Minister,  *  *  confirming 
what  was  stated  in  his  note  of  June  12,  last,  that,  for  con- 
siderations of  an  international  character,  binding  not 
alone  upon  his  Government,  the  latter  is  keeping  secret 
the  convention  entered  into  with  the  United  States  on 
the  8th  of  last  February;  and  that  since  it  relates  to  an 
agreement  not  yet  perfected,  it  is  not  proper  for  the 
Nicaraguan  Government,  on  its  part,  for  the  reasons  stated 
in  its  said  note,  to  make  any  official  declaration  whatever 
regarding  any  of  the  points  embraced  in  that  negotiation 
(Appendix  7')." 

8. 

Canal  Convention  Taken  Under  Consideration  by 
THE  United  States  Senate. 

Later,  through  the  North  American  press,  my  Govern- 
ment learned  that  the  vSenate  of  that  nation  was  con- 
sidering a  treaty — which  my  Government  supposed  was 
the  same  that  had  been  reproduced  by  La  Repuhlica  in 
its  above-mentioned  issue,  and  that  had  been  alluded  to 
by  the  Nicaraguan  Secretary  of  Foreign  Relations  in  his 
notes  of  June  12  and  August  4,  191 3  (sections  4  and  7  of 
this  chapter) — signed  by  the  Governments  of  Nicaragua 
and  the  United  States  of  America,  relating  to  the  opening 
of  a  canal  through  Nicaraguan  territory,  and  to  other 
matters  then  for  the  moment  unimportant  to  my  Govern- 
ment ;  and  that  the  distinguished  North  American  man  of 
affairs,  Mr.  John  N.  Popham,  who  has  many  interests 
rooted  in  Costa  Rica  and  great  sympathy  with  her  con- 
cerns, whilst  on  a  private  business  trip  to  his  country, 


19 

generously  and  of  his  own  accord  interposed  his  valued 
interest  with  certain  senators  of  that  great  republic  to 
the  end  that,  when  the  treaty  in  question  should  come  up 
for  debate  and  ratification,  the  rights  of  Costa  Rica  in 
connection  with  any  interoceanic  canal  in  Nicaraguan 
territory  might  not  only  not  be  overlooked  but  respected 
and  guaranteed  in  accordance  with  the  Cafias- Jerez  treaty 
and  the  Cleveland  award. 

Among  the  documents  attached  hereto  appears  a 
printed  copy  of  a  brief  addressed  by  Mr.  Popham  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States 
Senate  (Appendix  ''LL"). 

9. 

New  Treaty  for  a  Canai^  Across  Nicaragua. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  1914,  my  Government 
was  unofficially  assured  that  the  aforesaid  treaty  for  a 
canal  across  Nicaragua  had  been  in  fact  tacitly  withdrawn 
from  the  consideration  of  the  United  States  Senate;  but 
that  there  was  at  that  time  before  that  exalted  body 
another  pact — similar,  if  not  the  same,  in  ground  work, 
at  least  with  regard  to  a  canal  through  Nicaragua — 
negotiated  by  the  same  high  contracting  parties  that 
signed  the  first  treaty;  that  is,  the  one  that  bore  date  of 
February  8,  191 3,  according  to  information  given  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  Nicaragua. 

10. 

Secrecy  Maintained  by  Nicaragua  and  the  United 

States. 

But  regarding  this  new  pact,  or  the  signature  and  con- 
tents of  the  other,  or  the  status  of  the  negotiations  then 
reached  with  respect  thereto,  my  Government  had  no 
official  information,  for  everything  in  connection  with  the 


20 


matter  was  carried  on  in  the  strictest  secrecy,  as  well  on 
the  part  of  Nicaragua  as  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

II. 

Costa  Rica's  Consequent  Inabiuty  to  Formui^ate 

Action. 

My  Government  was,  therefore,  unable  to  formulate 
any  action  at  that  time  against  the  treaty  of  February  8, 
1 91 3,  between  Nicaragua  and  the  United  States  relating 
to  an  interoceanic  canal  across  Nicaraguan  territory, 
nor  could  it  attack,  except  in  the  most  general  terms,  any 
analogous  convention  subsequently  negotiated  by  those 
parties,  for,  in  violation  of  the  explicit  and  solemn  assur- 
ances by  Nicaragua,  the  latter 's  first  care  at  that  time  was 
at  all  hazards,  and  in  any  event,  to  conceal  her  canal 
negotiations  from  Costa  Rica. 

12. 
Period  01^  Inaction  on  Question. 

The  year  1914  came  to  an  end  and  191 5  passed  without 
final  action,  or  further  consideration  of  the  Nicaraguan 
canal  matter  by  the  United  States  Senate.  My  Govern- 
ment, at  least,  heard  nothing  to  the  contrary. 

13- 

The  Controversy  Revives. 

Whilst,  then,  Costa  Rica  was  unsuspiciously  awaiting 
developments.  The  Evening  Star  of  Washington,  in  its 
issue  of  February  2  of  the  present  year,  gave  out  the 
news  that  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the 
United  States  Senate  had  recommended  the  ratification 
by  that  body  of  the  treaty  which  had  been  signed  more 
than  a  year  previously  by  the  respective  plenipotentiaries 


21 

of  the  United  States  and  Nicaragua,  among  other  objects, 
for  the  construction  of  an  interoceanic  canal  across 
Nicaraguan  territory. 

14- 

The  Costa  Rican  Legation  at  Washington  Takes 

Action. 

On  receipt  of  the  above  news,  the  Costa  Rican  Legation 
at  Washington  hastened  to  send,  on  the  very  day  that  the 
newspaper  article  appeared,  to  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  United  States,  a  respectful  note  requesting  the 
Government  of  that  country  to  prevent  the  ratification  by 
the  United  States  of  the  convention  in  question  on  the 
ground  that  it  openly  violated  the  existing  treaties  be- 
tween Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  and  the  Cleveland 
award,  and  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  admirable 
intentions  which  animated  His  Excellency  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  respecting  the  peoples  of  the  Amer- 
icas, put  forth  in  his  most  recent  public  and  official  declar- 
ations before  more  than  a  thousand  delegates  assembled  in 
representation  of  the  various  nations  of  the  American 
continent  (Appendix  "M"). 

15- 

Memorandum  of  Harry  Weston  Van  Dyke,  Esquire. 

Actuated  by  the  same  purpose  that  prompted  the  note 
of  our  Minister  at  Washington,  the  attorney  for  the  Costa 
Rican  Legation  in  that  capital,  Harry  W.  Van  Dyke,  Es- 
quire, an  international  lawyer  of  excellent  reputation  and 
high  standing,  prepared  and  published  a  memorandum  of 
much  merit  (Appendix  "  N") ;  but  the  efforts  of  our  attor- 
ney failed  as  did  those  of  our  diplomatic  representative. 
The  memorandum  was  addressed  to  and  filed  with  the 
United  States  Senate. 


22 
l6. 

The  Ratification  of  the  Bryan-Chamorro  Treaty 
BY  THE  United  States.     Its  Text. 

The  Congressional  Record  of  Washington,  in  its  issue  of 
February  i8,  of  the  present  year,  reported  the  news  that 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  its  executive 
session  of  that  day,  had  ratified  a  convention  between  that 
repubhc  and  Nicaragua,  which  had  been  signed  at  Wash- 
ington on  the  5th  of  August,  1914,  and  which,  with  the 
additions  made  by  that  exalted  body,  reads  as  follows: 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  being  animated  by 
the  desire  to  strengthen  their  ancient  and  cordial 
friendship  by  the  most  sincere  cooperation  for  all 
purposes  of  their  mutual  advantage  and  interest  and 
to  provide  for  the  possible  future  construction  of  an 
interoceanic  ship  canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  the  great  Lake  of  Nicaragua,  or  by  any  route 
over  Nicaraguan  territory,  whenever  the  construc- 
tion of  such  canal  shall  be  deemed  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  conducive  to  the  interests 
of  both  countries,  and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
wishing  to  facilitate  in  every  way  possible  the  success- 
ful maintenance  and  operation  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
the  two  Governments  have  resolved  to  conclude  a 
Convention  to  these  ends,  and  have  accordingly 
appointed  as  their  plenipotentiaries: 

"The  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Honor- 
able William  Jennings  Bryan,  Secretary  of  State;  and 

"The  President  of  Nicaragua,  Senor  General  Don 
Emiliano  Chamorro,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary  of  Nicaragua  to  the  United 
States; 

"Who,  having  exhibited  to  each  other  their  respec- 
tive full  powers,  found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form, 
have  agreed  upon  and  concluded  the  following 
articles : 


23 

"Article  I. 

"The  Government  of  Nicaragua  grants  in  per- 
petuity to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
forever  free  from  all  taxation  or  public  charge,  the 
exclusive  proprietary  rights  necessary  and  convenient 
for  the  construction,  operation  and  maintenance  of 
an  interoceanic  canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  the  great  Lake  of  Nicaragua  or  by  way  of  any 
route  over  Nicaraguan  territory,  the  details  of  the 
terms  upon  which  such  canal  shall  be  constructed, 
operated  and  maintained  to  be  agreed  to  by  the  two 
governments  whenever  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  shall  notify  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
of  its  desire  or  intention  to  construct  such  canal. 

"ArticIvE  II. 

"To  enable  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
to  protect  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  proprietary 
rights  granted  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  by  the  foregoing  article,  and  also  to  enable 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  take  any 
measure  necessary  to  the  ends  contemplated  herein, 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  hereby  leases  for  a 
term  of  ninety-nine  years  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  the  islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  known 
as  Great  Corn  Island  and  Little  Corn  Island;  and 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  further  grants  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  a  like  period  of 
ninety-nine  years  the  right  to  establish,  operate  and 
maintain  a  naval  base  at  such  place  on  the  territory 
of  Nicaragua  bordering  upon  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca  as 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  may  select. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the 
option  of  renewing  for  a  further  term  of  ninety-nine 
years  the  above  leases  and  grants  upon  the  expiration 
of  their  respective  terms,  it  being  expressly  agreed 
that  the  territory  hereby  leased  and  the  naval  base 
which  may  be  maintained  under  the  grant  aforesaid 
shall  be  subject  exclusively  to  the  laws  and  sovereign 
authority  of  the  United  States  during  the  terms  of 
such  lease  and  grant  and  of  any  renewal  or  renewals 
thereof. 


24 

"Article  III. 

**In  consideration  of  the  foregoing  stipulations  and 
for  the  purposes  contemplated  by  this  Convention 
and  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  present  indebted- 
ness of  Nicaragua,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  shall,  upon  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifica- 
tion of  this  Convention,  pay  for  the  benefit  of  the  Re- 
public of  Nicaragua  the  sum  of  three  million  dollars 
United  States  gold  coin,  of  the  present  weight  and 
fineness,  to  be  deposited  to  the  order  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua  in  such  bank  or  banks  or  with  such 
banking  corporation  as  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  may  determine,  to  be  applied  by  Nicaragua 
upon  its  indebtedness  or  other  public  purposes  for  the 
advancement  of  the  welfare  of  Nicaragua  in  a  manner 
to  he  determined  by  the  two  High  Contracting  Parties, 
all  such  disbursements  to  be  made  by  orders  drawn  by 
the  Minister  of  Finance  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua 
and  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  or  by  such  person  as  he  may  designate. 


"Article  IV. 

"This  Convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the  High 
Contracting  Parties  in  accordance  with  their  respec- 
tive laws,  and  the  ratifications  thereof  shall  be  ex- 
changed at  Washington  as  soon  as  possible. 

"In  witness  whereof  the  respective  plenipoten- 
tiaries have  signed  the  present  treaty  and  have 
affixed  thereunto  their  seals. 

"Done  at  Washington,  in  duplicate,  in  the  English 
and  Spanish  languages,  on  the  5th  day  of  August,  in 
the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen. 

"  William  Jennings  Bryan,     [seal.] 
._.     "Emiliano  Chamorro."  [seal.] 

(Appendix  "N,"  p.  3192.) 


25 

17- 

Conflict  between  the  Bryan- Chamorro  Treaty  and 
THE  Canas-Jerez  Treaty,  the  Central  American 
Treaty  of  Washington  and  the  Cleveland  Award. 

Examination  of  the  Bryan- Chamorro  treaty  and  com- 
parison thereof  with  the  Cafias- Jerez  treaty,  with  the 
Cleveland  award,  which  stands  as  the  authentic  inter- 
pretation of  the  latter,  and  with  the  Central  American 
Treaty  of  Washington,  demonstrate  that  the  first  named 
is  in  plain  conflict*  with  the  others  in  the  respects  which  I 
am  now  going  to  point  out. 

(a)  Navigation  of  the  San  Juan  River. 

The  Cafias-Jerez  treaty,  interpreted  by  the  Cleveland 
award,  concedes  to  Costa  Rica  the  perpetual  right  to  free 
navigation  of  the  waters  of  the  San  Juan,  from  its  dis- 
charge into  the  Atlantic  up  to  three  English  miles  below 
Castillo  Viejo,  for  commercial  purposes,  whether  with 
Nicaragua  or  with  the  interior  of  Costa  Rica  and  over 
whatever  waterways  of  the  latter  that  empty,  or  may 
empty,  into  the  San  Juan ;  it  gives  to  Costa  Rican  vessels 
the  right,  free  from  tolls  of  any  kind,  to  touch  along 
the  Nicaraguan  banks  of  that  river  in  that  part  thereof 
in  which  navigation  is  common;  and  puts  Costa  Rican 
vessels  in  the  fiscal  service  in  the  same  class  with  the 
merchant  vessels  of  that  same  country  in  the  matter  of 
their  protection,  or  with  respect  to  the  said  commercial 
purposes. 

With  regard  to  the  San  Juan  River,  the  conventional 
rights  of  Costa  Rica  are  in  a  certain  aspect  less  than  the 
rights  inherent  in  co-ownership  (condominio) ;  Costa  Rica 
cannot,  for  example,  ply  that  stream  with  her  vessels  of 
war,  as  Nicaragua  has  the  right  to  do  unquestionably;  but 
on  the  other  hand  those  rights  are  greater  than  those  of 


26 

a  mere  co-proprietor  (copropietario) ,  because  Costa  Rican 
vessels,  merchantmen  as  well  as  revenue  cutters,  enjoy, 
in  the  zone  of  common  navigation,  a  free  course  in  the 
whole  of  the  river  throughout  its  length  and  breadth,  and 
free  access,  exempt  from  duties,  to  any  point  on  the  Nica- 
raguan  shore. 

So  that,  if  the  United  States,  under  the  authority  of  the 
Bryan- Chamorro  treaty,  should  construct  the  inter- 
oceanic  canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River,  the  absolute 
unrestricted  dominion  over  which  has  been  ceded  to  her  by 
Nicaragua,  it  is  easy  to  foresee  the  fate  of  Costa  Rica's 
rights  to  navigation  on  the  San  Juan,  rights  which  she  now, 
as  well  as  formerly,  recognized  as  being  less  than  those 
pertaining  to  co-ownership  (condominio) ,  but  in  part — 
perhaps  the  most  important  part — much  greater  than 
those  of  a  simple  co-proprietor  (copropietario). 

Nicaragua,  then,  in  entering  into  the  Bryan-Chamorro 
treaty,  completely  forgot  that  she  could  not  dispose  unre- 
servedly of  the  San  Juan  River,  for  in  and  to  that  gift  of 
nature  Costa  Rica  also  possesses  perfectly  clear  rights  of 
transcendental  usefulness,  perhaps  equal  to  that  of  the 
Nicaraguan  rights,  however  much  the  latter  country  may 
have  tried  to  cancel  them  utterly  by  means  of  a  conveyance 
that  is  void  in  every  element  affecting  the  rights  of  a  third 
party — Costa  Rica.  The  sale  of  another's  thing  is  null. 
This  is  an  external  axiom  of  law  and  justice — organic, 
indeed — among  all  peoples  that  hold  themselves  civilized. 

The  canal,  to  look  at  the  matter  from  another  point 
of  view,  will  result  in  fact  in  a  diminution  of  Costa  Rican 
territory,  which  to-day  reaches  in  reality  up  to  the  Nica- 
raguan shores  of  the  San  Juan  River,  from  three  English 
miles  below  Castillo  Viejo,  with  relation  to  the  stream, 
down  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  and  Costa  Rica,  in  spite  of 
this,  has  not  even  been  consulted  in  this  matter. 


27 
(b)  The  Matter  of  Costa  Rica's  Consent. 

By  virtue  of  the  Canas-Jerez  treaty  and  the  Cleveland 
award,  Costa  Rica's  consultative  opinion  must  be  secured 
for  the  concluding  of  any  agreement  which  Nicaragua 
purposes  to  carry  out  respecting  the  construction  of  a 
canal  across  her  soil;  but  if  the  enterprise  injures  the 
natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  that  opinion  ceases  to  be 
consultative  and  becomes  decisive.  That  is  to  say,  if  the 
work  should  occasion  any  damage  to  Costa  Rica,  she  must 
be  brought  into  the  transaction. 

Even  though  there  were  no  Cafias-Jerez  treaty  or 
Cleveland  award,  that  last  conclusion  would  be  sound, 
for  it  is  no  more  than  a  maxim  of  equity ;  but  Nicaragua  is 
entirely  astray  this  time.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of  Costa 
Rica,  and  against  them,  she  has  permitted  herself  to  con- 
tract alone  with  the  United  States  respecting  a  canal, 
thus  indisputably  violating  the  rights  of  Costa  Rica 
which  she,  more  than  any  other,  is  obligated  to  safeguard, 
even  though  solely  out  of  regard  for  the  Cafias-Jerez 
treaty  and  Cleveland  award. 

Nicaragua  has  not  even  besought  the  required  expression 
of  Costa  Rica's  opinion  in  this  emergency;  but  let  us 
assume  that  this  implies  a  mere  discourtesy  between  the 
two  nations  which  Costa  Rica  is  willing  to  overlook  in  the 
interest  of  the  moral  union  and  solidarity  of  the  Central 
American  nation.  Nevertheless,  the  canal  convention, 
which  was  so  carefully  and  so  long  kept  secret  by  the  United 
States  and  Nicaragua,  being  now  so  well  known  in  all  its 
details,  Costa  Rica  can  no  longer  remain  quiet  and  mute, 
because  that  pact,  from  the  instant  of  its  attack  on  Costa 
Rica's  rights  to  the  navigation  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  to  the  integrity  of  national  territory  in  that  region, 
could  not  pass  unnoticed  by  that  country.  Costa  Rica, 
armed  with  the  right,  maintains  that  that  convention 


28 

can  constitute  the  law  for  no  one  without  her  acquiescence 
in  the  clauses  that  so  gravely  menace  her  interests. 

The  United  States  on  her  part  cannot  plead  ignorance 
of  the  legal  antecedents  of  the  case,  not  only  because  of 
the  official  notes  and  protests  transmitted  by  Costa  Rica' 
to  her  Government  in  relation  to  the  point  in  question, 
but  because  the  Cleveland  award  is  a  public  act  of  that 
Government. 

His  Excellency  President  Cleveland  gave  an  account  of 
that  award  in  his  Message  of  December  3,  1888,  and  His 
Excellency  President  McKinley  alluded  to  the  same  docu- 
ment in  his  Message  of  December  3,  1890,  both  messages 
being  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of 
America  {Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Wash- 
ington, 191 1,  pages  5369  and  6426).  And  His  Excel- 
lency President  Lincoln,  in  his  Message  of  December  6, 
1864,  addressed  also  to  Congress,  informed  that  body 
that,  at  the  instance  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua, 
he  had  authorized  a  qualified  engineer  to  survey  the  San 
Juan  River  and  port  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  (Ibid.,  page 
3444).  In  1864,  then,  Nicaragua  knew  that  Costa  Rica 
possessed  rights  in  the  San  Juan  River  and  in  the  port  of 
San  Juan  del  Norte,  and  the  United  States  also  knew  this ; 
and  now,  although  nothing  has  transpired  since  then  in 
this  connection  except  the  Cleveland  award  that  confirmed 
and  invigorated  those  same  rights,  Nicaragua  and  the 
United  States  appear  to  have  been  unaware  of  them, 
notwithstanding  that  the  Statement  of  Mr.  Popham  and 
the  Memorandum  of  Mr.  Van  Dyke,  above  referred  to,  and 
other  private  works  pertinent  thereto,  which  made  their 
appearance  whilst  the  matter  was  within  the  knowledge  of 
the  Government  and  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  official  documents  enunciated,  must  have  con- 
curred to  illustrate  the  understanding  of  the  United  States 
in  this  matter. 


29 
(c)  Navigation  in  Nicaraguan  Maritime  Waters. 

It  is  established  by  the  Central  American  Treaty  of 
Washington  that  the  merchant  vessels  of  any  of  the  signa- 
tory powers  shall  enjoy  equal  rights  with  those  of  all  other 
contracting  parties  when  in  the  seas,  coasts  or  ports  of 
those  countries. 

Nicaragua  thus  restricted  herself  in  favor  of  her  sisters 
of  the  old  Federation  of  Central  America  just  as  the  latter, 
in  their  turn,  restricted  themselves  for  her  benefit  in  the 
matter  of  their  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  of  their 
maritime  waters,  coasts  and  ports,  for  the  period  of  ten 
years  which  has  not  yet  expired,  and  which  can  be  ex- 
tended indefinitely  from  year  to  year  (Article  XIX  of  the 
treaty).  How,  then,  can  a  valid  lease  be  given  to  the 
United  States  of  any  part  of  the  littoral  and  waters  of  the 
Gulf  of  Fonseca  and  the  Corn  Islands  of  the  Caribbean 
Sea  without  the  obligations  stipulated  in  the  Central 
American  Treaty  of  Washington?  It  cannot;  nor  can 
Nicaragua  get  rid  of  the  Central  American  Treaty  of 
Washington  without  the  concurrence  of  the  respective 
wills  of  the  other  contracting  parties. 

An  impediment  of  equal  weight  arises  out  of  the  same 
instrument  to  prevent  the  sale  of  territory  that  may  be 
occupied  or  needed  by  the  interoceanic  canal,  since  that 
locality  embraces  parts  of  the  soil  and  waters  of  Nicaragua 
covered  by  the  Central  American  Treaty  of  Washington, 
for  no  one  can  transfer  more  rights  than  he  possesses,  or 
those  that  he  does  not  possess. 

The  preceding  observations  of  this  paragraph  apply  in 
general  to  all  the  repubhcs  that  subscribed  to  the  Central 
American  Treaty  of  Washington ;  and  with  respect  to 
Costa  Rica,  even  more  arises  to  her  out  of  the  Cafias-Jerez 
treaty  and  the  Cleveland  award : 

By  Article  4  of  the  Caiias- Jerez  treaty,  SaHnas  Bay, 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  Bay  of  San  Juan  del  Norte, 


30 

on  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  are  common  to  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua.  What,  then,  will  be  the  situation  if  the  United 
States  shall  elect  for  the  beginning  or  entrance  of  its  canal 
the  two  bays  mentioned? 

It  is  evident  that  in  that  supposition  the  rights  of  Costa 
Rica  in  those  bays  will  vanish  on  the  horizon  of  history, 
unless  right  and  justice  retain  their  sway  in  the  country 
of  the  immortal  George  Washington. 


i8. 
Costa  Rica's  Finai^  Protest. 

As  soon  as  the  ratification  of  the  Bryan-Chamorro 
treaty  by  the  United  States  Senate  appeared  in  the  Con- 
gressional Record  our  Legation  at  Washington  made  a 
careful  study  of  that  instrument  and,  noting  that  its  con- 
tents were  flagrantly  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  Costa 
Rica  established  in  the  Cafias- Jerez  treaty,  the  Cleveland 
award,  and  the  Central  American  Treaty  of  Washington, 
hastened  to  lodge  with  the  Department  of  State  of  the 
United  States,  on  February  21st,  last,  a  protest  in  respect- 
ful but  energetic  terms  against  the  action  of  the  United 
States  Senate  (Appendix  "O").  Nothing  more  could  be 
done  at  the  moment  by  a  country  that  has  at  its  com- 
mand no  other  force  than  that  of  the  law. 


19. 

Nicaragua  Persists  in  Her  Silence. 

Although  the  treaty  was  not  then  covered  by  state 
secrecy,  Nicaragua  did  not  even  then  deign  to  communi- 
cate to  Costa  Rica  anything  in  connection  with  the  great 
problem  that  meant  so  much  to  her  and  to  Costa  Rica. 


31 

20. 

Notice  from  the  United  States  Legation  in  Costa 

Rica. 

His  Excellency  Mr.  E.  J.  Hale,  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Costa  Rica,  did,  however,  on  instructions 
from  his  Government,  send  to  our  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Relations,  on  the  21st  of  last  February,  a  short  note  in 
which,  assuming  that  Costa  Rica  was  fully  informed  of 
what  had  transpired,  he  made  known  to  our  Secretary 
that  the  United  States  Senate,  on  the  i8th  of  that  month, 
by  a  vote  of  55  to  18,  adopted  a  resolution  ratifying  the 
Nicaraguan  treaty,  with  two  amendments  of  which  he 
enclosed  copies;  he  also  enclosed  copy  of  the  following 
proviso  in  that  resolution: 

''Provided,  That  whereas  Costa  Rica,  Salvador,  and 
Honduras  have  protested  against  the  ratification  of 
said  Convention  in  the  fear  or  belief  that  said  Conven- 
tion might  in  some  respect  impair  existing  rights  of 
said  States;  therefore,  it  is  declared  by  the  Senate 
that  in  advising  and  consenting  to  the  ratification 
of  the  said  Convention  as  amended,  such  advice  and 
consent  are  given  with  the  understanding,  to  be 
expressed  as  a  part  of  the  instrument  of  ratification, 
that  nothing  in  said  Convention  is  intended  to  affect 
any  existing  right  of  any  of  the  said  named  States." 

Mr.  Hale  concluded  his  communication  by  asking  our 
Government  to  inform  the  press  of  Costa  Rica  of  the  action 
of  the  United  States  Senate  in  this  regard  (Appendix 
"P"). 

.  What  Mr.  Hale  evidently  did  not  know  is  that,  when 
our  Government  received  his  note,  it  was  wholly  in  the 
dark  respecting  the  contents  of  that  treaty. 

My  Government,  of  course,  is  profoundly  appreciative 
of  His  Excellency's  courteous  deference  towards  it,  but 


32 

naturally  it  notes  with  dismay  that,  in  spite  of  the  proviso 
enacted  by  the  United  States  Senate — doubtless  inserted 
with  the  intention  of  allaying  the  nervous  excitement  of 
Costa  Rica,  Salvador,  and  Honduras — the  Bryan-Cha- 
morro  treaty  is  heavily  charged  with  dangers  for  Central 
America,  and  especially  for  Costa  Rica. 

JURISDICTION  OF  THE  TRIBUNAL. 

Article  first  of  both  the  above-mentioned  General 
Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friendship  and  of  the  Convention 
for  .the  Establishment  of  a  Central  American  Court  of 
Justice,  which  was  also  entered  into  on  the  20th  of 
December,  1907,  by  the  five  States  that  formerly  con- 
stituted the  Federal  Republic  of  the  Center  of  America, 
confer  jurisdiction  of  the  present  case  upon  the  High  Tri- 
bunal before  which  I  have  the  honor  to  appear.  (Ap- 
pendices "E"  with  "D"). 

COMPLAINT. 

For  the  foregoing  reasons,  and  after  having  exhausted 
the  resources  of  diplomacy,  I  come  before  this  Honorable 
Court  and  ask  that,  after  due  legal  procedure,  this  Court 
will  render  a  final  judgment  in  the  action  here  brought 
against  the  Most  Excellent,  the  Government  of  the 
Republic  of  Nicaragua,  as  follows : 

First. — That  the  Bryan-Chamorro  treaty,  to  which 
paragraph  15  of  the  foregoing  ARGUMENTS  OF 
FACT  relates,  violates  the  rights  of  Costa  Rica 
that  were  acquired  under  the  Cafias-Jerez  treaty,  the 
Cleveland  award,  and  the  Central  American  Treaty 
of  Washington,  in  that — 

(a)  Costa  Rica  was  not  consulted  by  Nicaragua  in 
order  to  enter  into  that  convention ; 

(6)  The  execution  of  that  pact  may  deprive  Costa 
Rica  of  her  rights  of  free  navigation  in  the  San  Juan 
River  from  its  outlet  in  the  Atlantic,  up  stream  to 


33 

within  three  Enghsh  miles  of  Castillo  Viejo,  and  may 
prevent  Costa  Rican  vessels  in  the  merchant  or  fiscal 
service  from  touching  at  points  on  the  northern  banks 
of  that  river  along  the  line  indicated ; 

(c)  The  execution  of  the  pact  may  also  damage 
and  diminish  the  Costa  Rican  shores  of  the  said 
river  along  that  line,  as  well  as  the  mouths  of  the 
Costa  Rican  rivers  that  empty  into  the  San  Juan, 
and  the  lands  about  said  shores  and  river  mouths; 

(d)  The  execution  of  the  pact  may  also  prejudice 
the  co-ownership  of  Costa  Rica  in  San  Juan  del  Norte 
and  Salinas  Bay,  and  may  nullify  that  co-ownership 
entirely ; 

{e)  Because  of  the  potential  injuries  indicated  in 
(h),  (c),  and  (d)  the  decisive  opinion  of  Costa  Rica  is 
necessary  and  indispensable  to  the  perfecting  of  the 
pact,  and  that  opinion  has  neither  been  given  or 
asked  for;  and 

(f)  The  pact,  with  regard  to  the  leasing  to  the 
United  States  of  Nicaraguan  territory  for  a  naval 
base  in  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca,  and  of  Great  Corn  Island 
and  Little  Corn  Island  which  Nicaragua  possesses  in 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  makes  no  reservation  whatever  in 
favor  of  Costa  Rica,  whose  vessels  possess,  in  all  the 
maritime  waters,  coasts  and  ports  of  Nicaragua,  the 
right  to  be  treated  as  national  vessels  of  Nicaragua — 
an  omission  which  ipso  facto  renders  nugatory 
Article  IX  of  the  Central  American  Treaty  of  Wash- 
ington. 

Second. — That  the  violation  of  Costa  Rica's  rights 
in  the  particulars  above  set  forth,  or  in  any  one  of 
them,  renders  the  said  Bryan-Chamorro  pact  void, 
particularly  in  view  of  the  fact  that  when  it  was 
signed  both  contracting  parties  well  knew  of  Nica- 
ragua's lack  of  legal  capacity  to  sign  unrestrictedly; 
that  is,  they  knew  of  Nicaragua's  incapacity  to  sign 
without  holding  harmless  the  rights  which  Costa 
Rica  possesses  in  the  waters  and  territories  that  are 
involved  in  the  convention,  and 

Third. — That  the  acts  and  omissions  set  forth  in 
the   two   preceding   points   render   the   said   Bryan- 


34 

Chamorro  treaty  null  and  void  and  without  effect, 
especially  with  respect  to  Costa  Rica,  and  the  Court 
hereby  declares  and  adjudges  said  treaty  to  be  null 
and  void  and  without  effect. 

INTERLOCUTORY  PETITION. 

Under  the  authority  of  Article  XVIII  of  the  convention 
creating  this  supreme  tribunal,  I  respectfully  pray  that 
an  immediate  decision  be  rendered  in  this  action  in  order 
to  prevent  dangers  and  conflicts  that  may  perhaps  be 
irreparable  later,  and  that,  pending  such  decision,  the 
court  will  issue  an  appropriate  decree — * 

(A)  Ordering,  with  relation  to  a  canal  across 
Nicaraguan  territory,  and  with  relation  to  anything 
that  may  interfere  generally  with  the  navigation  of 
the  waters  of  that  republic,  that  the  status  quo  of 
the  right  that  existed  in  Costa  Rica  prior  to  the 
Bryan- Chamorro  treaty  that  gives  rise  to  this  action 
be  maintained,  and 

(B)  Directing  that,  in  view  of  the  urgency  of  the 
matter,  a  communication  be  sent  by  telegraph  to  the 
Most  Excellent,  the  Governments  of  Nicaragua  and 
the  United  States  of  America,  to  be  followed  imme- 
diately by  confirmation  by  mail,  notifying  them, 
with  all  due  formality,  of  the  institution  of  this  action 
and  of  the  decree  prayed  for  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph (A),  if,  as  I  venture  to  hope,  my  prayer  for 
such  precautionary  measure  shall  be  acceded  to. 

ENUMERATION  OF  APPENDICES. 

The  following  documents  are  made  a  part  hereof: 

"A."  My  credentials  as  special  counsel. 

"B."  The  Cafias- Jerez  treaty. 

"C."  The  Esquivel- Roman  convention. 

*Since  this  translation  was  started  the  Central  American  Court  of  Justice 
has  passed  upon  this  interlocutory  petition,  and,  on  the  first  of  May, 
rendered  the  decision  which  is  herein  printed  in  full  at  page  37. 


35 

"  CH."  Translation  of  article  in  La  Gaceta  (official  daily 
of  Costa  Rica)  of  April  15,  1888,  containing  the  Cleveland 
award. 

"D"  with  "B."  The  General  Treaty  of  Peace  and 
Friendship  of  December  20,  1907,  between  the  republics 
of  Central  America. 

**E"  with  '*D."  The  convention  of  December  20,  1907, 
creating  the  Central  American  Court  of  Justice. 

"F."  The  protest  of  April  27,  19 13,  from  the  Costa 
Rican  Minister  in  Nicaragua  before  the  Foreign  Office  of 
that  Republic. 

"G."  The  protest  of  April  17,  1913,  from  the  Costa 
Rican  Minister  in  the  United  States  before  the  State 
Department  of  that  country. 

"H."  Nicaragua's  reply  of  June  12,  1913. 

"I."  Inquiry  addressed  on  July  30,  191 3,  by  the  Costa 
Rican  Minister  in  Nicaragua  to  the  Foreign  Office  of  that 
Republic.  This  Appendix  is  on  page  103  of  the  Report 
on  the  Foreign  Relations  of  Nicaragua  that  constitutes 
Appendix  "K." 

"J."  Reply  of  August  4,  following. 

''K."  Report  on  the  Foreign  Relations  of  Nicaragua, 
Managua,  191 4,  in  which,  at  pages  98  to  105,  will  be  found 
the  notes  referred  to  in  paragraphs  "  f , "  "  k, "  "  i, "  and  ' '  j  " 
hereof. 

**L."  Article  published  in  La  Republica,  sl  newspaper 
of  this  city  (San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica),  No.  8810,  of  July  4, 
1 91 3,  reproducing  Chamorro-Weitzel  treaty. 

"LL."  Statement  of  Mr.  John  N.  Popham  before  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  dated  July  10,  1914. 

"M."  The  note  of  February  2,  last,  from  our  Minister 
at  Washington  to  the  United  States  Department  of  State. 

"N."  Memorandum  of  Harry  W.  Van  Dyke,  Esquire, 
undated,  and  printed  in  Washington  February  ist,  last. 


36 

"N."  Excerpt  from  Congressional  Record,  No.  49,  of 
February  i8th,  last,  containing  Senate's  resolution  rati- 
fying Bryan-Chamorro  treaty.  • 

' 'O. "  Protest  addressed  on  February  2 1  st ,  last,  by  Costa 
Rican  Legation  in  Washington,  to  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  State. 

"P."  Note,  addressed  on  that  day,  by  the  United  States 
Legation  at  this  capital,  to  our  Department  of  Foreign 
Relations. 

COPIES. 

I  transmit  herewith  the  necessary  copies  of  this  com- 
plaint and  the  Appendices. 

NOTICES. 

My  domicile  is  in  this  city,  where  I  have  my  office,  to 
which  may  be  addressed  the  notices  from  this  Honorable 
Court. 

Central  American  Court  of  Justice. 

San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica, 
March  24,  igi6. 

Luis  Castro  Urena. 


The  Most  Excellent, 

The  Central  American  Court  of  Justice: 

(Costa  Rica  v.  Nicaragua.) 

I,  the  attorney  for  the  plaintiff  in  this  action,  respect- 
fully inform  the  Court: 

i. 

That  I  present  herewith,  as  Appendix  '*  Q, "  an  authentic 
copy  of  the  original  text  of  the  Cleveland  award. 


37 

II. 

That  whereas,  after  the  presentation  of  my  Complaint, 
there  appeared  in  La  Gaceta  (Costa  Rican  Official  Gazette) 
of  March  29th,  last,  the  reply  of  the  Department  of  State 
of  the  United  States  to  the  protests  of  Costa  Rica  that  had 
been  lodged  with  that  Government,  I  present  herewith 
a  copy  of  the  said  gazette  for  purposes  which  I  shall 
hereafter  explain,  and  mark  the  same  ''Appendix  'R.'  " 

^  Central  American  Court  of  Justice. 

San  Jose,  April  5,  1Q16. 

Luis  Castro  Urena. 

RESOLUTION  OF  THE  COURT  ON  THE  INTER- 
LOCUTORY PETITION  CONTAINED  IN  THE 
COMPLAINT. 

CENTRAL  AMERICAN  COURT  OF  JUSTICE. 
San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica,  May  first,  nineteen  hundred  and 
sixteen,  at  six  o'clock,  post  meridian. 

Whereas, 
The  Government  of  Costa  Rica,  by  the  Licentiate  Luis 
Castro  Urefia,  has  presented  a  formal  complaint  against 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua,  charging  the  latter  with 
having  entered  into  a  treaty  relating  to  an  interoceanic 
canal  and  subscribed  by  that  Republic  and  the  Republic 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  alleging  that  that 
pact  is  a  violation  of  the  Cafias-Jerez  treaty,  the  Cleve- 
land award,  and  the  General  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Amity 
signed  at  Washington  in  nineteen  hundred  and  seven;  and 

Considering  : 
First. — That  the  Court  has  jurisdiction  of  all  questions 
or  controversies  arising  between  the  Central  American 


38 

States,  of  whatsoever  nature  or  origin,  in  cases  in  which 
the  Chancelleries  of  the  respective  States  may  not  have 
been  able  to  reach  a  settlement  (Article  I  of  the  treaty 
creating  this  Tribunal) ; 

Second. — That  in  the  present  case  the  subject-matter, 
or  cause  of  action,  is  properly  within  the  ordinary  juris- 
diction of  the  Court,  since  it  relates  to  a  controversy 
between  two  of  the  High  Signatory  Parties  to  the  Treaties 
of  Washington,  which  parties,  in  the  pursuit  of  peace  and 
harmony,  solemnly  agreed  to  submit  their  differences  or 
difficulties  to  this  permanent  Court  of  Justice  for  decision; 

Third. — That  the  High  Party  Complainant  herein  has 
comphed  with  the  requirements  prescribed  in  Article  XIV 
of  the  respective  treaty  by  filing  with  its  complaint — 
which,  in  its  turn,  sets  forth  the  points  of  fact  and  law 
relied  on  in  the  case — all  pertinent  evidence  in  the  form 
prescribed  in  Article  7  of  the  Ordinances; 

Fourth. — That  with  reference  to  the  requirement  that 
the  States  must  resort  to  diplomatic  parleys,  or  discus- 
sions, as  prerequisites  to  judicial  action,  to  the  end  that 
an  amicable  settlement  may  be  reached,  the  Court  finds, 
from  the  facts  so  far  presented,  that  that  requirement 
has  been  fulfilled.  The  evidence  filed  with  the  complaint 
shows  that  the  Costa  Rican  Government  demanded  of  the 
Nicaraguan  Government  the  observance  of  its  right  to 
be  consulted  regarding  any  agreement  relating  to  an  inter- 
oceanic  canal,  and  gave  notice  that,  without  such  pre- 
requisite, the  powers  thereunto  given  by  existing  treaties 
would  be  considered  to  be  infringed.  The  Government  of 
Nicaragua  rejected  the  demand  made  upon  it  and  claimed 
that  the  matter  of  the  conclusion  of  a  canal  treaty,  the 
construction  of  which  would  only  affect  waters  and  lands 
of  its  own  ownership,  was  exclusively  within  its  own 
sovereign  powers.  Discussion  of  this  point  was  com- 
menced, but  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  close  by  Nicara- 


39 

gua's  refusal  to  disclose  any  information  concerning  the 
negotiations  to  the  complainant  Government;  she  de- 
clared repeatedly  that  considerations  of  an  international 
character  forced  her  to  treat  the  convention  entered  into 
as  secret,  thus  not  only  shutting  off  the  possibility  of  a 
settlement  of  opposing  interests,  but  preventing  any 
intelligent  discussion  of  the  matter,  and  left  the  Govern- 
ment of  Costa  Rica  no  other  recourse  but  that  of  present- 
ing its  formal  protest. 

Fifth. — That  Article  6  of  the  Ordinances,  and  17  of  the 
first  paragraph  of  the  Regulations,  give  a  logical  develop- 
ment and  application  of  the  abstract  and  general  principle 
laid  down  in  Article  I  of  the  Treaty,  and  leave  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Court,  in  each  case  that  comes  before  it, 
the  question  whether  the  complaining  State  did  or  did  not 
make  efforts  tending  towards  diplomatic  discussion, 
although  it  is  impossible  to  establish  a  fixed  and  inflexible 
criterion  for  all  classes  of  litigation.  And  this  theory 
comports  with  the  jurisprudence  controlling  the  Central 
American  Court,  which  upholds  the  doctrine,  ''That  the 
reservation  contained  in  the  Article  under  discussion  has 
for  its  object  to  safeguard  the  right  of  the  States  to  ter- 
minate their  controversies  by  an  amicable  understanding, 
notwithstanding  their  agreement  to  submit  them  to  the 
Court;  but  it  is  not  intended  to  establish  the  irrevocable 
condition  that  such  recourse,  once  undertaken,  must  be 
exhausted     *     *     *"     (Decision  of  December  19,  1909); 

Sixth. — That  the  notes  emanating  from  the  Ministry 
of  Foreign  Relations  of  Nicaragua  and  addressed  to  the 
Costa  Rican  Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  and  tran- 
scribed to  this  Court,  clearly  disclose  the  fact  that  the 
High  Party  Defendant  denies  the  competency  of  this 
Court  to  take  cognizance  of  this  action,  and  maintains 
that  the  action  is  unfounded;  but  many  of  its  allegations 
involve  peremptory  exceptions  foreign  to  the  issue  which 


40 

it  is  impossible  to  decide  without  full  argument  between 
the  High  Parties  in  which  their  rights  shall  be  completely 
set  forth ; 

Seventh. — That  with  reference  to  the  interlocutory  peti- 
tion that  accompanies  the  complaint,  the  Court  can 
properly  decide  the  point  relating  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  status  quo  between  the  Republics  of  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua;  but  not  the  point  relating  to  the  notification 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  because  that 
Government  is  not  a  party  to  this  litigation  (Article  XVIII 
of  the  Treaty) ; 

Wherefore,  in  conformity  with  the  doctrines  invoked, 
with  Articles  19,  22,  and  23  of  the  Convention,  and  57 
and  58  of  the  Ordinances,  and  16  of  the  Regulations,  and 
by  a  majority  of  votes  against  the  dissent  of  the  Honorable 
Judge  for  Nicaragua,  who  is  filing  a  separate  opinion 
setting  forth  the  reasons  for  his  decision, 

It  Is  Resolved: 

That  the  complaint  presented  by  the  Government  of 
Costa  Rica  be  admitted;  that  the  Licentiate  Luis  Castro 
Urefia  be  recognized  as  the  representative  of  the  Com- 
plainant Government;  that  the  Defendant  Government 
,  be  notified  and  called  upon  to  answer  the  complaint  within 
sixty  days  from  the  date  on  which  notice  of  the  complaint 
shall  have  been  received  by  His  Excellency  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua,  to 
whom,  also,  shall  be  sent,  through  the  medium  of  a  note, 
copies  of  the  petition  of  complaint,  of  the  evidence  pre- 
sented and  of  this  decision;  and  that  the  following 
precautionary  measure  (medida  precautoria)  be  decreed: 
The  Governments  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  are  under 
the  obligation  to  maintain  the  status  quo  that  existed  be- 
tween them  prior  to  the  Treaty  that  gave  rise  to  the  pres- 
ent controversy. 


41 

Let  this  decision  be  notified  to  the  Defendant  Govern- 
ment and  the  other  signataries  of  the  Treaty  creating  this 
Court,  through  the  means  and  in  the  form,  indicated  in. 
the  third  paragraph  of  Article  57  of  the  Ordinances. 

M.  Castro  R. 
Nicolas  Oreamuno. 
Daniei.  Gutierrez  Navas. 
Saturnino  MEDAIv. 
Angei.  M.  Bocanegra. 
Manuel  Echevarria,  Secretary. 


APPENDICES 

TO  THE 

COMPLAINT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA 
GROWING  OUT  OF  A  CONVENTION  ENTERED 
INTO  BY  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA  WITH 
THE  REPUBLIC  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 
AMERICA  FOR  THE  SALE  OF  THE  SAN  JUAN 
RIVER  AND  OTHER  MATTERS. 

(PRINTED  AT  THE  NATIONAL  PRINTING  OFFICE 
vSAN  JOS6,  COSTA  RICA.) 


TRANSLATION 


INDEX. 

PAGE. 
Appendix  A. — Attorney's  credentials 47 

B. — Carias- Jerez  treaty 48 

C. — Bsquivel-Roman  convention 53 

CH.— The  Cleveland  award 57 

D. — General  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friendship  be- 
tween the  RepubUcs  of  Central  America  .     62 

E. — Convention  creating  the  Central  American 

Court  of  Justice 65 

F. — Costa  Rica's  protest  lodged  with  Nicaragua 

on  the  27th  of  April,  1913 68 

G. — Costa  Rica's  protest  lodged  with  the  United 

States  on  the  17th  of  April,  1913 70 

H. — Nicaragua's  reply  of  June  12th,  1913 73 

I. — Inquiry  addressed  by  Costa  Rica  to  Nica- 
ragua July  30,  1913 79 

J. — Nicaragua's  reply  of  August  4,  following.  .  .     80 

K. — Report  on  the  Foreign  Relations  of  Nica- 
ragua, 1914 81 

L. — La  Repiihlica,  No.  8810,  containing  Cha- 
morro-Weitzel  Treaty  signed  at  Managua, 

February  8,1913 82 

LL. — Statement  of  Mr.  John  N.  Popham  before 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the 
United  States  Senate 87 

M. — Costa  Rica's  note  of  February  2,  19 16,  to  the 

United  States 99 

N. — Memorandum    of    Harry    W.    Van    Dyke, 

Esquire,  before  the  United  States  Senate . .    102 

N. — Congressional  Record,  No.  49,  of  Washington, 
containing  Senate  resolution  ratifying 
Bryan-Chamorro  treaty 112 

O. — Costa  Rica's  protest  of  February  21,  1916, 

lodged  with  the  United  States 116 

P. — Note  of  same  day  from  the  United  States 
Legation  at  San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica  to  the 

Costa  Rican  Government 118 

Q. — The  Cleveland  award  (same  as   appendix 

CH) 120 

R. — Reply  of  the  United  States  to  the  protests 

of  Costa  Rica 121 

(45) 


APPENDIX  A. 

ManuEi.  Castro  Ouesada,  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Relations, 

CERTIFIES,  That  at  page  129  of  the  appropriate 
book  appear  the  resolution  and  act  of  acceptance  that 
read  as  follows:  **No.  132.  San  Jose,  August  14,  1914. 
The  President  of  the  Republic 

RESOLVES:  To  designate  the  Licentiate  don  Luis 
Castro  Urefia  to  act  as  the  representative  of  the  Costa 
Rican  Government  in  preparing  and  filing  with  the 
Central  American  Court  of  Justice  a  complaint  against 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  based  upon  the  failure  of 
that  Government  to  recognize  the  rights  of  this  Republic 
in  connection  with  the  treaty  entered  into  with  the 
United  States  for  the  construction  of  an  interoceanic 
canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River,  or  Nicaraguan  terri- 
tory generally.  Let  this  be  communicated.  Gonzalez, 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Relations,  Castro 
Quesada."  Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  San  Jose, 
August  14,  1914.  Don  Luis  Castro  Urefia,  of  full  age, 
lawyer,  and  domiciled  here,  appeared  and  accepted  the 
employment  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by  the 
foregoing  resolution;  he  thereupon  took  the  oath  and 
signed  his  name.  Manuel  Castro  Quesada.  Luis  Castro 
Urefia." 

Given  at  the  city  of  San  Jose,  August  18,  1914. 

Manueiv  Castro  Quesada. 

[SEAI..] 


(47) 


APPENDIX  B. 

Treaty  of  Territorial  Limits  between  Nicaragua 
AND  Costa  Rica,  April  15,  1858. 

We,  Maximo  Jerez,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the 
Government  of  the  RepubHc  of  Nicaragua,  and  Jose 
Maria  Caiias,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Costa  Rica,  having  been  entrusted  by  our  Govern- 
ments with  the  mission  of  adjusting  a  treaty  of  limits 
between  the  two  republics,  which  should  put  an  end  to  all 
the  differences  which  have  obstructed  the  perfect  under- 
standing and  harmony  that  must  prevail  among  them  for 
their  safety  and  prosperity,  and  having  exchanged  our 
respective  powers,  which  were  examined  by  The  Honor- 
able, Senor  Don  Pedro  R.  Negrete,  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary of  the  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Salvador, 
exercising  the  functions  of  fraternal  mediator  in  these 
negotiations,  who  found  them  to  be  good  and  in  due  form, 
as  we  on  our  part  also  found  good  and  in  due  form  the 
powers  exhibited  by  the  said  minister,  after  having 
discussed  with  the  necessary  deliberation  all  the  points 
in  question,  with  the  assistance  of  the  representative  of 
Salvador  who  was  present,  have  agreed  to  and  adjusted 
the  following  Treaty  of  Limits  between  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica. 


"Art.  6.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  shall  have  exclu- 
sive dominion  abd  the  highest  sovereignty  over  the  waters 
of  the  San  Juan  River  from  their  issue  out  of  the  lake  to 
their  discharge  into  the  Atlantic;  but  the  Republic  of 

(48) 


49 

Costa  Rica  shall  have  in  those  waters  perpetual  rights  of 
free  navigation  from  the  said  mouth  of  the  river  up  to 
a  point  three  English  miles  below  Castillo  Viejo,  for  pur- 
poses of  Commerce,  whether  with  Nicaragua  or  with  the 
interior  of  Costa  Rica,  over  the  San  Carlos  or  Sarapiqui 
rivers  or  any  other  course  starting  from  the  part  which 
has  been  established  as  belonging  to  that  republic  on  the 
banks  of  the  San  Juan.  The  vessels  of  either  country 
may  touch  at  any  part  of  the  banks  of  the  river,  where 
the  navigation  is  common  without  paying  any  dues  except 
such  as  may  be  established  by  agreement  between  the 
two  Governments. 


"Art.  8.  If  the  contracts  for  canalization  or  transit 
entered  into  before  the  Nicaraguan  Government  had 
knowledge  of  this  convention  should  for  any  cause  cease 
to  be  in  force,  Nicaragua  agrees  not  to  conclude  any  others 
relating  to  the  objects  above  stated  without  first  hearing 
the  opinion  of  the  Costa  Rican  Government  respecting  the 
disadvantages  that  may  result  to  the  two  countries, 
provided  that  opinion  be  given  within  thirty  days  after 
the  request  therefor  shall  have  been  received,  in  case  that 
the  Nicaraguan  Government  should  indicate  that  a  deci- 
sion is  urgent ;  and  in  the  event  that  the  enterprise  should 
cause  no  injury  to  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  that 
opinion  shall  be  advisory." 


In  testimony  whereof  we  have  hereunto  subscribed 
our  names  and  signed  this,  in  triplicate,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Honorable,  the  Minister  of  Salvador,  under  the 
countersign  of  the  respective  Secretaries  of  Legation,  in 


50 

the  city  of  San  Jose,  the  capital  of  Costa  Rica,  on  the  15th 
day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord,  1858. 

Maximo  JerEz, 
Jose  M.  Canas, 
Pedro  Romulo  Negrete. 

Manuei.  Rivas,     , 

Secretary  of  Legation  of  Nicaragua. 

SaIvVADOR  GoNZAIvEZ, 

Secretary  of  Legation  of  Costa  Rica. 

Florentin  Suazo, 

Secretary  of  Legation  of  Salvador. 


TOMAS  MARTINEZ, 

President  of  the  Repttblic  of  Nicaragua, 

Inasmuch  as  General  Maximo  Jerez,  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary and  Envoy  Extraordinary  of  the  Republic  of 
Nicaragua  to  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica,  has  negotiated, 
agreed  to  and  signed,  on  the  15th  day  of  the  present 
month  a  treaty  of  limits  that  conforms  in  its  entirety 
with  the  bases  laid  down  for  him  in  his  instructions, 
and  the  said  treaty  is  found  to  be  reciprocally  conducive 
to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  both  countries,  and  removes 
all  obstacles  that  might  obstruct  the  mutual  alliance  and 
unity  of  action  against  all  attempts  at  conquest ;  and  inas- 
much as  the  Government  is  duly  authorized  to  do  what  it 
deems  best  for  the  security  and  independence  of  the 
Republic,  by  virtue  of  the  legislative  decree  of  February  26, 
last,  and  by  virtue  of  the  reservation  of  powers  mentioned 
in  the  governmental  decree  of  the  17  th  instant, 

Ratifies  in  all  its  parts  and  in  each  of  its  articles  the 
treaty  of  limits  entered  into  by  the  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary, Don  Jose  Maria  Canas,  for  the  Most  Excellent 


51 

Government  of  Costa  Rica,  and  Don  Maximo  Jerez, 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  for  the  Supreme  Government 
of  Nicaragua,  signed  on  the  15  th  of  the  present  month 
and  ratified  on  the  i6th  by  that  Government,  together 
with  the  additional  act  of  the  same  date. 

Given  at  Rivas,  the  twenty-sixth  of  the  month  of  April, 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- eight. 

ToMAs  Martinez, 
Gregorio  Juarez, 

[sEAi^.]  Secretary. 


EXCHANGE  OF  RATIFICATIONS. 

Juan  Rafael  Mora,  President  of  the  Republic  of  Costa 
Rica,  and  Tomas  Martinez,  President  of  the  Republic  of 
Nicaragua,  duly  authorized,  respectively,  by  the  Con- 
gresses of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  to  exchange  ratifica- 
tions of  the  Treaty  of  Territorial  Limits  (heretofore 
signed  by  plenipotentiaries  of  the  two  republics,  as  well 
as  by  that  of  the  Republic  of  Salvador  as  mediatory  power, 
on  the  15th  of  April,  of  the  present  year,  at  San  Jose, 
capital  of  Costa  Rica,  said  plenipotentiaries  having  been, 
on  the  part  of  Costa  Rica,  General  Jose  Maria  Cafias; 
on  the  part  of  Nicaragua,  General  Maximo  Jerez,  and  on 
the  part  of  Salvador,  Colonel  Pedro  Romulo  Negrete), 
have  met  in  the  city  of  Rivas  in  Nicaragua  for  the  purpose 
stated,  and  have  perfected  and  verified  the  exchange  of 
the  respective  oihcial  instruments  of  ratification  of  the 
said  treaty  of  April  15th,  and  have  afhxed  our  signatures 
in  triplicate  to  this  act  of  exchange,  verified  by  the  under- 
signed Ministers  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua,  Dr.  Don  Nazario  Toledo  and  Licentiate  Don 


52 

Gregorio  Juarez,  this  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  month  of 
April  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight. 

Juan  Mora.  Tomas  Martinez. 

Nazario  ToIvEdo,  Gregorio  Juarez, 

Minister  of  State  for  Minister  of  State  for 

Foreign  Relations.  Foreign  Relations. 


The    Constituent    Assembly    of    the    Republic    of 
Nicaragua, 

In  the  exercise  of  the  legislative  powers  with  which  it  is 

invested, 

DECREES: 

Sole  article. — That  the  treaty  of  limits  entered  into  in 
the  city  of  San  Jose  on  the  15  th  of  April  of  the  present 
year,  by  Ministers  Plenipotentiary,  General  Don  Maximo 
Jerez,  on  the  part  of  this  Republic,  and  General  Don  Jose 
Maria  Caiias,  on  the  part  of  Costa  Rica,  with  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Salvador,  Colonel  Don  Pedro  Romulo  Negrete, 
be  approved. 

To  the  Executive  Power.  Given  in  the  Hall  of  Sessions 
of  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  Managua,  May  28,  1858. 
Hermenegildo  Zepeda,  D.  N.  P.;  Jose  A.  Mejia,  D.  S., 
J.  Miguel  Cardenas,  D.  S. 

Wherefore,  let  it  be  executed. 

National  Palace,  Managua,  June  4,  1858.  Tomas  Mar- 
tinez. (Gaceta  (Official  Gazette)  of  Nicaragua,  July  3, 
1858.) 


APPENDIX  C. 

Arbitral  Convention  Entered  into  Between  Nica- 
ragua AND  Costa  Rica. 

1887. 

THE  PRESIDENT  01^  THE  REPUBLIC  TO  THE  PEOPLE, 

Be  it  known: 

That  the  Congress  has  ordered  the  following: 
The  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  the  Republic 
of  Nicaragua 

DECREE: 

That  the  treaty  be  ratified  in  all  its  parts  which  was 
entered  into  in  Guatemala  on  the  24th  of  last  December 
between  the  Nicaraguan  and  Costa  Rican  Plenipoten- 
tiaries, with  the  intervention  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  first-named  republic,  which  treaty  com- 
prises eleven  articles  that  read  literally  as  follows : 

The  Governments  of  the  Republics  of  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica,  animated  by  the  desire  to  put  an  end  to  the 
question  that  has  been  debated  between  them  since  1871, 
that  is,  whether  or  not  the  treaty  signed  by  them  on  the 
15th  of  April,  1858,  is  valid,  have  appointed,  respectively, 
as  their  plenipotentiaries,  Senor  Don  Jose  Antonio 
Roman,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipoten- 
tiary of  Nicaragua  before  the  Government  of  Guatemala, 
and  Senor  Don  Ascension  Esquivel,  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Costa  Rica  before  the 
same  Government,  who,  after  exhibiting  their  full 
powers  that  were  found  to  be  in  due  form,  and  discussing, 
with  the  intervention  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Rela- 
tions of  the  Republic  of  Guatemala,  Dr.  Don  Fernando 
Cruz,  who  was  designated  by  his  Government  to  use  the 

(53) 


54 

good  offices  of  his  Government  generously  tendered  to  the 
contending  parties  and  by  them  gratefully  accepted,  have 
agreed  to  the  following  articles : 

Article  i. 

The  question  pending  between  the  contracting  Govern- 
ments relating  to  the  validity  of  the  Treaty  of  Limits  of 
April  15,  1858,  is  hereby  submitted  to  arbitration. 

Article  2. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  shall  be 
the  arbitrator  of  this  question. 

Within  sixty  days  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of 
the  present  convention,  the  contracting  Governments 
shall  ask  the  arbitrator  named  herein  to  accept  the  office. 

Article  6. 

If  the  arbitral  award  shall  uphold  the  validity  of  the 
treaty,  the  same  decision  shall  declare  whether  Costa  Rica 
possesses  the  right  to  navigate  the  San  Juan  River  with 
vessels  of  war  or  the  revenue  service.  It  shall  also  decide, 
in  the  event  the  said  treaty  be  held  valid,  all  the  other 
points  of  doubtful  interpretation  that  may  be  found  by 
either  of  the  parties  in  the  treaty  and  that  are  notified 
to  the  other  within  thirty  days  from  the  exchange  of 
ratifications  of  the  present  convention. 

Article  7. 

The  arbitral  award,  whatever  it  may  be,  shall  be 
held  by  the  contracting  parties  to  be  a  perfect  and  obliga- 
tory treaty,  it  shall  admit  of  no  recourse  whatsoever  and 
its  execution  shall  commence  thirty  days  after  having  been 
notified  to  the  two  governments  or  their  representatives. 


55 

ArTICI^B  II. 

This  treaty  must  be  submitted  for  ratification  by  the 
executive  and  congress  of  each  of  the  contracting  repub- 
Hcs,  and  their  ratifications  shall  be  exchanged  at  Managua 
or  San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica  on  the  30th  of  June,  next,  or 
before  then  if  possible. 

In  testimony  whereof  the  plenipotentiaries,  and  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Guatemala,  have  here- 
unto signed  their  names  and  affixed  their  private  seals, 
at  the  city  of  Guatemala  this  twenty-fourth  day  of  Decem- 
ber, eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- six.  J.  Anto.  Roman, 
Ascension  Esquivel.     Fernando  Cruz. 

The  Government,  in  view  of  the  convention  entered  into 
between  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  through  the  medium 
of  their  plenipotentiaries — for  Nicaragua,  Senor  Don  Jose 
Antonio  Roman,  and  for  Costa  Rica,  Sefior  Licentiate  Don 
Ascension  Esquivel — with  the  mediation  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Guatemala,  and  dated  at  the  capital  of  the  latter 
country  the  24th  of  December,  1886,  has  ratified  the  same. 

Managua,  January  28,  1887.  Cardenas.  The  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations,  Joaqn.  EHzondo. 

Agreed  to,  Managua,  February  11,  1887,  Joaqn. 
Elizondo. 

Given  in  the  Hall  of  Sessions  of  the  Senate,  Managua, 
March  28,  1887.  Joaquin  Zavala.  S.  Morales.  Fran- 
cisco Jimenez. 

To  the  Executive  Power.  Hall  of  Sessions  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies.  Managua,  April  24,  1887.  Tomas 
Armijo.     Luis  E-  Saenz.     Leopoldo  M.  Montenegro. 

Wherefore :  let  it  be  executed. 

Managua,  April  26,  1887. 

E.  Carazo. 
Joaqn.  Euzondo, 

(Two  seals.)  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations. 


56 

EXCHANGE  OF  RATIFICATIONS. 

The  undersigned,  Faustino  Viquez,  Plenipotentiary 
appointed  ad  hoc  to  verify  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
of  Costa  Rica  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  the  arbitral 
convention  entered  into  at  Guatemala  on  the  24th  day  of 
December  of  last  year,  between  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
that  republic  and  Nicaragua,  with  the  amicable  mediation 
of  the  Government  of  Guatemala,  and  Federico  Solorzano, 
Plenipotentiary  of  Nicaragua,  appointed  for  a  similar 
purpose,  having  examined  our  respective  full  powers, 
which  we  find  to  be  in  good  and  due  form,  have  carefully 
compared  the  said  ratifications  and  found  them  exact, 
and  we  hereby  verify  the  exchange  in  the  customary 
form. 

In  testimony  whereof  we  sign  both  in  the  same  tenor 
at  the  city  of  Managua,  the  first  of  June,  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighty- seven. 

Faustino  Viquez, 

(Two  seals.)  Federico  Solorzano. 


APPENDIX  CH. 

Award  of  the  Arbitrator,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  upon  the  Validity  of  the  Treaty 
of  i^imits  of  1858  between  nicaragua  and  costa 
Rica.* 

Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States,  to  whom 
it  concern,  greeting:  The  functions  of  arbitrator  having 
been  conferred  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States 
by  virtue  of  a  treaty  signed  at  the  City  of  Guatemala  on 
the  24th  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-six,  between  the  RepubHcs  of  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua,  whereby  it  was  agreed  that  the  question  pend- 
ing between  the  contracting  Governments  in  regard  to 
the  validity  of  their  Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15th  day  of 
April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  should 
be  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America;  that  if  the  arbitrator's  award 
should  determine  that  the  treaty  was  valid,  the  same  award 
should  also  declare  whether  Costa  Rica  has  the  right  of 
navigation  of  the  river  San  Juan  with  vessels  of  war  or  of 
revenue  service;  and  that  in  the  same  manner  the  arbi- 
trator should  decide,  in  case  of  the  validity  of  the  treaty, 
upon  all  the  other  points  of  doubtful  interpretation  which 
either  of  the  parties  might  find  in  the  treaty  and  should 
communicate  to  the  other  party  within  thirty  days  after 
the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  said  treaty  of  the 
24th  day  of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-six. 

And  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  having  duly  communi- 
cated to  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  eleven  points  of  doubt- 
ful interpretation  found  in  the  said  Treaty  of  Limits  of 
the  15th  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 

*Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States,  Part  I,  pages  456,  457,  458, 
459. 

(57) 


58 

fifty-eight;  and  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  having  failed 
to  communicate  to  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  any  points 
of  doubtful  interpretation  found  in  the  said  last-mentioned 
treaty ; 

And  both  parties  having  duly  presented  their  allegations 
and  documents  to  the  arbitrator,  and  having  thereafter 
duly  presented  their  respective  answers  to  the  allegations 
of  the  other  party  as  provided  in  the  treaty  of  the  24th  day 
of  December,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-six ; 

And  the  arbitrator  pursuant  to  the  fifth  clause  of  said 
last-named  treaty  having  delegated  his  powers  to  the 
honorable  George  L.  Rives,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State, 
who,  after  examining  and  considering  the  said  allegations, 
documents  and  answers,  has  made  his  report  in  writing 
thereon  to  the  arbitrator; 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  do  hereby  make  the  following 
decision  and  award: 

First.  The  above-mentioned  Treaty  of  Limits,  signed 
on  the  15th  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-eight,  is  valid. 

Second.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  under  said  treaty 
and  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  sixth  article  thereof, 
has  not  the  right  of  navigation  of  the  River  San  Juan 
with  vessels  of  war ;  but  she  may  navigate  said  river  with 
such  vessels  of  the  revenue  service  as  may  be  related  to  and 
connected  with  her  enjoyment  of  the  "purposes  of  com- 
merce" accorded  to  her  in  said  article,  or  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  the  protection  of  said  enjoyment. 

Third.  With  respect  to  the  points  of  doubtful  inter- 
pretation communicated  as  aforesaid  by  the  Republic  of 
Nicaragua,  I  decide  as  follows : 

I.  The  boundary  line  between  the  Republics  of  Costa 
Rica  and  Nicaragua,  on  the  Atlantic  side,  begins  at  the 
extremity  of  Punta  de  Castilla  at  the  mouth  of  the  San 


59 

Juan  de  Nicaragua  River,  as  they  both  existed  on  the 
15th  day  of  April,  1858.  The  ownership  of  any  accretion 
to  said  Punta  de  Castilla  is  to  be  governed  by  the  laws 
applicable  to  that  subject. 

2.  The  central  point  of  the  Salinas  Bay  is  to  be  fixed 
by  drawing  a  straight  line  across  the  mouth  of  the  bay 
and  determining  mathematically  the  center  of  the  closed 
geometrical  figure  formed  by  such  straight  line  and  the 
shore  of  the  bay  at  low- water  mark. 

3.  By  the  central  point  of  Salinas  Bay  is  to  be  under- 
stood the  center  of  the  geometrical  figure  formed  as 
above  stated.  The  hmits  of  the  bay  towards  the  ocean  is 
a  straight  line  drawn  from  the  extremity  of  Punta  Arranca 
Barba,  nearly  true  south  to  the  westernmost  portion  of  the 
land  about  Punta  Sacate. 

4.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  not  bound  to  concur 
with  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  in  the  expenses  necessary 
to  prevent  the  bay  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  from  being 
obstructed;  to  keep  the  navigation  of  the  river  or  port 
free  and  unembarrassed,  or  to  improve  it  for  the  common 
benefit. 

5.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  not  bound  to  con- 
tribute any  proportion  of  the  expenses  that  may  be  in- 
curred by  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  for  any  of  the  pur- 
poses above  mentioned. 

6.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  can,  not  prevent  the 
Republic  of  Nicaragua  from  executing  at  her  own  expense 
and  within  her  own  territory  such  works  of  improvement, 
provided  such  works  of  improvement  do  not  result  in  the 
occupation  or  flooding  or  damage  of  Costa  Rican  territory, 
or  in  the  destruction  or  serious  impairment  of  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  said  river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point 
where  Costa  Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same.  The 
Republic  of  Costa  Rica  has  the  right  to  demand  indemni- 
fication for  any  places  belonging  to  her  on  the  right  bank 


6o 

of  the  River  San  Juan  which  may  be  occupied  without  her 
consent,  and  for  any  lands  on  the  same  bank  which  may 
be  flooded  or  damaged  in  any  other  way  in  consequence  of 
works  of  improvement. 

7.  The  branch  of  the  River  San  Juan  known  as  the 
Colorado  River  must  not  be  considered  as  the  boundary 
between  the  Republics  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  in 
any  part  of  its  course. 

8.  The  right  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  to  the  navi- 
gation of  the  River  San  Juan  with  men-of-war  or  revenue- 
cutters  is  determined  and  defined  in  the  second  article  of 
this  award. 

9.  The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  can  deny  to  the  Republic 
of  Nicaragua  the  right  of  deviating  the  waters  of  the  River 
San  Juan  in  case  such  deviation  will  result  in  the  destruc- 
tion or  serious  impairment  of  the  navigation  of  the  said 
river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point  where  Costa 
Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same. 

10.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  remains  bound  not  to 
make  any  grants  for  canal  purposes  across  her  territory 
without  first  asking  the  opinion  of  the  Republic  of  Costa 
Rica,  as  provided  in  Article  VIII  of  the  Treaty  of  Limits  of 
the  15th  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-eight.  The  natural  rights  of  the  Republic  of  Costa 
Rica  alluded  to  in  the  said  stipulation  are  the  rights  which, 
in  view  of  the  boundaries  fixed  by  the  said  Treaty  of 
Limits,  she  possesses  in  the  soil  thereby  recognized  as 
belonging  exclusively  to  her ;  the  rights  which  she  possesses 
in  the  harbors  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  and  Salinas  Bay;  and 
the  rights  which  she  possesses  in  so  much  of  the  river 
San '  Juan  as  lies  more  than  three  English  miles  below 
Castillo  Viejo,  measuring  from  the  exterior  fortifications 
of  the  said  castle  as  the  same  existed  in  the  year  1858 ;  and 
perhaps  other  rights  not  here  particularly  specified.  These 
rights  are  to  be  deemed  injured  in  any  case  where  the  terri- 


6i 

tory  belonging  to  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  occupied  or 
flooded;  where  there  is  an  encroachment  upon  either  of 
the  said  harbors  injurious  to  Costa  Rica;  or  where  there  is 
such  an  obstruction  or  deviation  of  the  River  San  Juan  as 
to  destroy  or  seriously  impair  the  navigation  of  the  said 
river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point  where  Costa  Rica 
is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same. 

II.  The  Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15th  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  does  not  give  to 
the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  the  right  to  be  a  party  to  grants 
which  Nicaragua  may  make  for  interoceanic  canals; 
though  in  cases  where  the  construction  of  the  canal  will 
involve  an  injury  to  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  her 
opinion  or  advice,  as  mentioned  in  Article  VIII  of  the 
treaty,  should  be  more  than  "advisory"  or  "consultative." 
It  would  seem  in  such  cases  that  her  consent  is  necessary, 
and  that  she  may  thereupon  demand  compensation  for  the 
concession  she  is  asked  to  make;  but  she  is  not  entitled  as  a 
right  to  share  in  the  profits  that  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua 
may  reserve  for  herself  as  a  compensation  for  such  favors 
and  privileges  as  she,  in  her  turn,  may  concede. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  hereunto 
affixed. 

Done  in  triplicate  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the 
twenty- second  day  of  March,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-eight,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  one  hundred  and  twelfth. 

Grover  Ci.EvEi.and. 
By  the  President : 

T.  F.  Bayard, 

Secretary  of  State. 


APPENDIX  D. 

No.   2. 

The  Constitutional  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica, 
In  accordance  with  paragraph  4  of  Article  73,  of  the 
Constitution, 

DECREES: 

Let  the  Treaty  and  Conventions  of  the  following  literal 
tenor  be  approved : 

Generai.  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Amity. 

The  Governments  of  the  Republics  of  Costa  Rica, 
Guatemala,  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Salvador,  being 
desirous  of  establishing  the  foundations  which  fix  the  gen- 
eral relations  of  said  countries,  have  seen  fit  to  conclude  a 
General  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Amity  which  will  attain  said 
end,  and  for  that  purpose  have  named  as  delegates: 

Costa  Rica :  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  Luis  Ander- 
son and  Don  Joaquin  B.  Calvo. 

Guatemala:  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  Antonio 
Batres  Jauregui,  Doctor  Don  Luis  Toledo  Herrarte,  and 
Don  Victor  Sanchez  Ocaiia. 

Honduras:  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  Policarpo 
Bonilla,  Doctor  Don  Angel  Ugarte,  and  Don  E.  Cons- 
tantino Fiallos. 

Nicaragua :  Their  Excellencies  Doctors  Don  Jose  Madriz 
and  Don  Luis  F.  Corea,  and 

Salvador:  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  Salvador 
Gallegos,  Doctor  Don  Salvador  Rodriguez  Gonzalez,  and 
Don  Federico  Mejia. 

By  virtue  of  the  invitation  sent  in  accordance  with 
Article  II  of  the  protocol  signed  at  Washington  on  Septem- 
ber 17,  1907,  by  the  Plenipotentiary  Representatives  of 
the  five  Central  American  Republics,  their  Excellencies, 
the  Representative  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
Mexican  States,  Ambassador  Don  Enrique  C.  Creel,  and 
the  Representative  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  Mr.  Willaim  I.  Buchanan,  were  present 
at  all  the  deliberations. 

(62) 


63 

The  Delegates,  assembled  in  the  Central  American 
Peace  Conference  at  Washington,  after  having  communi- 
cated to  one  another  their  respective  full  powers,  which 
they  found  to  be  in  due  form,  have  agreed  to  carry  out  the 
said  purpose  in  the  following  manner: 

ARTICI.E   I. 

The  Republics  of  Central  America  consider  as  one  of 
their  first  duties,  in  their  mutual  relations,  the  maintenance 
of  peace,  and  they  bind  themselves  to  always  observe  the 
most  complete  harmony,  and  decide  every  difference  or 
difficulty  that  may  arise  among  them,  of  whatsoever 
nature  it  may  be,  by  means  of  the  Central  American 
Court  of  Justice,  created  by  the  Convention  which  they 
have  concluded  for  that  purpose  on  this  date. 

^  «)«  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

Article  IX. 

The  merchant  ships  of  the  signatory  countries  shall  be 

considered  upon  the  sea,  along  the  coasts,  and  in  the  ports 

of  said  countries  as  national  vessels,  they  shall  enjoy  the 

same  exceptions,  immunities,  and  concessions  as  the  latter, 

and  shall  not  pay  other  dues  nor  be  subject  to  further  taxes 

than  those  imposed  upon  and  paid  by  the  vessels  of  the 

country. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Signed  at  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  twentieth  day 
of  December,  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seven. 

Luis  Anderson  E.  Constantino  Fiallos 

J.  B.  Calvo  Jose  Madriz 

Antonio  Batres  Jauregui  Luis  F.  Corea 

Luis  Toledo  Herrarte  Salvador  Gallegos 

Victor  Sanchez  O.  Salvador  Rodriguez  G. 

Folic ARPO  Bonilla  F.  Mejia 
Angel  Ugarte 


64 

Nation Ai^  Palace,  San  Jose, 

January  22,  igo8. 
The  foregoing  convention,  being  in  conformity  with  the 
instructions  given  to  the  Delegates  and  entered  into  for 
the  high  advantages  of  the  nation,- is  hereby  approved  and 
referred  to  the  Constitutional  Congress  for  the  proper 
legal  action. 

Gonzalez  Viquez. 
Anderson, 

Secretary  of  State   for  Foreign  Relaiions. 


APPENDIX  E. 

Convention  for  the  estabushment  of  a  CentraIv 
American  Court  of  Justice. 

The  Governments  of  the  Republics  of  Costa  Rica,  Gaute- 
mala,  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Salvador,  for  the  purpose 
of  efficaciously  guaranteeing  their  rights  and  mantaining 
peace  and  harmony  inalterably  in  their  relations,  without 
being  obliged  to  resort  in  any  case  to  the  employment  of 
force,  have  agreed  to  conclude  a  Convention  for  the  con- 
stitution of  a  Court  of  Justice  charged  with  accomplish- 
ing such  high  aims,  and  to  that  end,  have  named  as  Dele- 
gates : 

Costa  Rica :  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  lyyis  Ander- 
son and  Don  Joaquin  B.  Calvo. 

Guatemala:  Their  Excellenceis  Doctor  Don  Antonio 
Batres  Jauregui,  Doctor  Don  Luis  Toledo  Herrarte,  and 
Don  Victor  Sanchez  Ocana. 

Honduras:  Their  Excellencies  Doctor  Don  Policarpo 
Bonilla,  Doctor  Don  Angel  Ugarte,  and  Don  E.  Cons- 
tantino Fiallos. 

Nicaragua :  Their  Excellencies  Doctors  Don  Jose  Madriz 
and  Don  Luis  F.  Corea,  and 

Salvador:  Their  Excellencies  Doctors  Don  Salvador 
Gallegos,  Doctor  Don  Salvador  Rodriguez,  and  Don 
Federico  Mejia. 

By  virtue  of  the  invitation  sent  in  accordance  with  article 
II  of  the  protocol  signed  at  Washington  on  September  17, 
1907,  by  the  Plenipotentiary  Representatives  of  the  five 
Central  American  Repubhcs,  their  Excellencies,  the  Repre- 
sentative of  the  Government  of  the  United  Mexican 
States,  Ambassador  Don  Enrique  C.  Creel,  and  the  Repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  of  America,  Mr.  WilHam  I. 
Buchanan,  were  present  at  all  the  deliberations. 

(65) 


66 

The  Delegates  assembled  in  the  Central  American 
Peace  Conference  at  Washington,  after  having  communi- 
cated to  one  another  their  respective  full  powers,  which 
they  found  to  be  in  due  form,  have  agreed  to  carry  out  the 
said  purpose  in  the  following  namner: 

Article  I. 
The  High  Contracting  Parties  agree  by  the  present  con- 
vention to  constitute  and  maintain  a  permanent  tribunal 
which  shall  be  called  the  ''Central  American  Court  of 
Justice,"  to  which  they  bind  themselves  to  submit  all 
controversies  or  questions  which  may  arise  among  them,  of 
whatsoever  nature  and  no  matter  what  their  origin  may 
be,  in  case  the  respective  Departments  of  Foreign  Affairs 
shall  not  be  able  to  reach  an  understanding. 


Article  XVIII. 
From  the  moment  in  which  any  suit  is  instituted  against 
any  one  or  more  governments  up  to  that  in  which  a  final 
decision  has  been  pronounced,  the  court  may  at  the  solici- 
tation of  any  one  of  the  parties  fix  the  situation  in  which 
the  contending  parties  must  remain,  to  the  end  that  the 
difficulty  shall  not  be  aggravated  and  that  things  shall  be 
conserved  in  statu  quo  pending  a  final  decision. 

vSigned  at  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  twentieth  day 
of  December,  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seven. 

Luis  Anderson  E.  Constantino  Fiallos 

J.  B.  Calvo  Jose  Madriz 

Antonio  Batres  JAuregui  Luis  F.  Corea 

Luis  Toledo  Herrarte  Salvador  Gallegos 

Victor  Sanchez  O.  Salvador  Rodriguez  G. 

POLICARPO   BONILLA  F.    MEJIA 

Angel  Ugarte 


67 

TO  THE  EXECUTIVE  POWER. 

Given  in  the  Hall  of  Sessions  of  the  Congress.  National 
Palace,  San  Jose,  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month  of 
February,  nineteen  hundred  and  eight. 

Francisco  Jimenez  O.,  Vice-President, 

B.  Casorla,  First  Secretary, 

F.  Mayorga  R.,  Second  Secretary. 

LET  IT  BE  EXECUTED. 

Given  at  the  National  Palace.  San  Jose,  the  twenty- 
eighth  day  of  the  month  of  February,  nineteen  hundred 
and  eight. 

CivETo  Gonzalez  Viquez. 
Anderson, 

Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Relations. 


APPENDIX  F. 

Legation  of  Costa  Rica, 

Managua,  April  2j,  igij. 

Mr.  Minister  :  The  news  has  reached  my  Government 
that  during  the  past  few  days  the  Legislative  Assembly  of 
Nicaragua  has  given  its  high  approval  to  a  treaty  which 
Your  Excellency's  Government  has  entered  into  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  America  relating  to 
the  construction  of  an  interoceanic  canal. 

In  view  of  the  cordiality  and  consequent  friendship  of 
which  so  many  proofs  have  been  given  us  by  the  fraternal 
Government  of  Nicaragua,  this  news  has  caused  profound 
surprise  to  my  Government,  because  it  involves  a  direct 
violation  of  the  existing  treaties  that  regulate  the  relations 
between  our  two  countries. 

Article  8th  of  the  Treaty  of  April  15,  1858,  and  the 
interpretation  given  by  President  Cleveland,  in  the 
arbitral  award  of  March  22,  1888,  to  the  tenth  point  of 
doubtful  understanding  that  was  presented  by  Nicaragua 
in  the  arbitration  which  Costa  Rica  joined  with  her  in 
submitting  to  the  decision  of  that  Exalted  Judge,  positively 
establish  the  inhibition  resting  upon  the  former  to  grant 
any  concession  relating  to  an  interoceanic  .canal  across 
her  territory  without  previously  hearing  the  opinion  of 
the  latter. 

The  omission  of  that  indispensable  step  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  on  the  present  occasion  my 
Government  conceives  to  be  sufficient  to  vitiate  and  ren- 
der wholly  void  the  treaty  in  question,  and  these  views 
have  been  transmitted  to  the  American  Government, 
before  which,  on  this  same  day,  formal  protest  has  been 
made. 

The  intimate  and  binding  community  of  interests 
involved  for  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  by  the  construc- 


69 

tion  of  a  canal  in  a  frontier  zone,  would  be  more  than  a 
sufficient  reason  why  neither  of  the  two  nations  could, 
without  serious  discourtesy  to  the  other,  enter  into  a 
treaty  for  such  a  purpose.  And  if,  as  in  the  present  case, 
in  addition  to  these  purely  ethical  reasons,  there  exists 
a  solemn  and  mandatory  agreement.  Your  Excellency  will 
understand  that  my  Government  neither  can  nor  should 
allow  such  absolute  ignoring  of  its  legitimate  rights  to 
pass  in  silence. 

For  the  above  reasons,  and  in  fulfillment  of  instructions 
from  my  Government,  and  in  its  name,  I  have  the  honor 
to  present — through  the  distinguished  medium  of  Your 
Excellency — to  the  enlightened  and  illustrious  Govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua,  formal  protest  against  the  unlawful 
conclusion  and  ratification  of  the  treaty  to  which  I  have 
just  referred. 

I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to  Your 
Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  highest  and  most  dis- 
tinguished consideration. 

F.  Cabezas  Gomez. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Sefior  Don  Diego  M.  Chamorro, 

Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of 

The  Republic  of  Nicaragua. 

(From  the  Report  on  Foreign  Relations  of  Costa  Rica, 
1913,  Expositive  Part,  p.  IX.) 


APPENDIX  G. 

Legation  of  Costa  Rica, 
Washington,  April  ly,  1913- 

Mr.  Secretary:  News  has  reached  my  Government, 
although  informally,  to  the  effect  that  during  the  last  days 
of  February  last,  a  contract,  entered  into  by  the  Govern- 
ments of  Nicaragua  and  of  Washington  for  the  construc- 
tion of  an  interoceanic  canal  across  Nicaragua,  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  United  States  Senate  for  ratification. 

That  news,  of  necessity,  caused  profound  surprise  to 
my  Government,  because  the  negotiation  therein  involved 
cannot  be  carried  into  effect  without  flagrant  violation 
of  the  existence  of  the  clearest  possible  treaty  agreements 
that  inhibit  Nicaragua's  entry  into  any  convention  for 
interoceanic  canalization  without  first  consulting  Costa 
Rica,  in  one  case,  and  in  another,  without  first  securing 
her  acquiescence. 

Article  8th  of  the  Treaty  of  Limits,  concluded  between 
Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  on  the  15th  of  April,  1858, 
reads  as  follows : 

"Art.  8.  If  the  contracts  for  canalization  or  transit 
entered  into  before  the  Nicaraguan  Government  had 
knowledge  of  this  convention  should  for  any  cause 
cease  to  be  in  force,  Nicaragua  agrees  not  to  conclude 
any  others  relating  to  the  objects  above  stated  with- 
out first  hearing  the  opinion  of  the  Costa  Rican 
Government  respecting  the  disadvantages  that  may 
result  to  the  two  countries,  provided  that  opinion 
be  given  within  thirty  days  after  the  request  therefor 
shall  have  been  received,  in  case  that  the  Nicaraguan 
Government  should  indicate  that  a  decision  is  urgent ; 
and  in  the  event  that  the  enterprise  should  cause  no 
injury  to  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  that  opin- 
ion shall  be  advisory." 

(70) 


71 

The  arbitral  award  rendered  by  His  Excellency  Grover 
Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on 
the  22d  of  March,  1888,  declares  in  its  first  finding  that 
the  said  Treaty  of  Limits,  of  1858,  is  valid,  and  then, 
interpreting  the  tenth  of  the  eleven  points  of  doubtful 
understanding  submitted  to  him  by  Nicaragua  in  the  con- 
troversy, decided  as  follows : 

"10.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  remains  bound 
not  to  make  any  grants  for  canal  purposes  across  her 
territory  without  first  asking  the  opinion  of  the 
Republic  of  Costa  Rica,  as  provided  in  Article  VIII 
of  the  Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15th  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight.  The  natural 
rights  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  alluded  to  in  the 
said  stipulation  are  the  rights  which,  in  view  of  the 
boundaries  fixed  by  the  said  Treaty  of  Limits,  she 
possesses  in  the  soil  thereby  recognized  as  belonging 
exclusively  to  her;  the  rights  which  she  possesses  in 
the  harbors  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  and  Salinas  Bay; 
and  the  rights  which  she  possesses  in  so  much  of  the 
river  San  Juan  as  lies  more  than  three  English  miles 
below  Castillo  Viejo,  measuring  from  the  exterior 
fortifications  of  the  said  castle  as  the  same  existed  in 
the  year  1858;  and  perhaps  other  rights  not  here 
particularly  specified.  These  rights  are  to  be  deemed 
injured  in  any  case  where  the  territory  belonging  to 
the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  occupied  or  flooded; 
where  there  is  an  encroachment  upon  either  of  the 
said  harbors  injurious  to  Costa  Rica;  or  where  there 
•  is  such  an  obstruction  or  deviation  of  the  River  San 
Juan  as  to  destroy  or  seriously  impair  the  navigation 
of  the  said  river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point 
where  Costa  Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same." 

An  examination  of  the  above  documents  will  convince 
Your  Excellency  that  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  was 
without  legal  capacity  to  enter  into  the  convention  in 
question,  which  is  now  before  the  Senate,  and  that  that 
lack  of  capacity — solemnly  declared,  in  1888,  as  above 


72 

stated,  by  the  President  of  the  United  States — funda- 
mentally vitiates  the  negotiations. 

But  my  Government  is  not  only  supported  by  incon- 
trovertible reasons  de  jure  in  her  opposition  to  the  treaty; 
compelling  and  controlling  reasons  de  facto  force  it  into 
the  controversy,  for,  as  Your  Excellency  surely  knows,  it  is 
wholly  impossible  to  construct  an  interoceanic  canal 
across  Nicaragua  without  affecting,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  the  lands  and  waters  of  Costa  Rica. 

For  the  foregoing  reasons,  in  obedience  to  instructions 
from  my  Government,  and  in  its  name,  I  have  the  honor 
formally  to  lodge,  with  great  respect,  through  the  medium 
of  Your  Excellency,  a  protest  with  the  enlightened 
and  justice-loving  Government  of  the  United  States, 
against  the  perfecting  of  the  convention  for  canal  pur- 
poses to  which  I  have  above  referred;  and  I  rest  in  the 
confidence  that  the  lofty  sentiment  of  equity  that  always 
guides  the  Washington  Government,  will  induce  it,  on 
this  occasion,  to  resolve  the  question  in  perfect  conformity 
with  justice  and  in  the  traditional  friendship  with  which 
Costa  Rica  has  always  been  honored  by  the  great  American 
Nation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency  the 
assurances  of  my  highest  and  most  distinguished  considera- 
tion. 

J.  B.  Calvo. 
To  His  Excellency, 

WiLUAM  Jennings  Bryan, 

Secretary  of  State  of  the 

United  States  of  America. 


APPENDIX  H. 

Managua,  June  12,  191 3. 

Mr.  Minister:  I  have  the  honor  to  reply  to  the  impor- 
tant note  of  April  24th,  last,  in  which  Your  Excellency  is 
pleased  to  inform  me  that  the  knowledge  has  reached 
your  Government  that  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Nica- 
ragua has  given  its  approval  to  a  treaty,  recently  entered 
into  between  my  Government  and  that  of  the  United 
States,  relating  to  the  construction  of  an  interoceanic 
canal. 

Your  Excellency,  states  that,  in  view  of  the  cordial  and 
continuous  friendship  of  which  so  many  proofs  have  been 
given  to  your  government  by  mine,  the  above  news  has 
caused  profound  surprise  to  your  Government,  since  it 
involves  a  perfect  violation  of  existing  treaties  that  regu- 
late the  relations  between  our  two  countries. 

In  proof  of  this,  your  Excellency  cites  article  VIII  of 
the  treaty  of  April  15,  1858,  and  what  was  decided  by 
President  Cleveland  in  his  award  of  March  22,  1888, 
respecting  point  X  of  the  points  of  doubtful  interpretation 
presented  by  Nicaragua;  and  your  Excellency  asserts 
that  these  established  conclusively  the  incapacity  on  the 
part  of  my  Government  to  execute  any  concession  relating 
to  an  interoceanic  canal  across  its  territory,  without  first 
hearing  the  opinion  of  Costa  Rica;  that  the  omission  of 
this  step,  indispensable  on  Nicaragua's  part,  your  Gov- 
ernment conceives  to  be  sulhcient  to  render  the  treaty 
wholly  void,  and  that  your  Government  has  so  informed 
the  United  vStates  Government  before  which  it  has  lodged 
a  formal  protest. 

Your  Excellency  goes  on  to  say  that  the  close  and  bind- 
ing community  of  interests  involved  for  the  two  countries 
by  the  construction  of  a  canal  on  a  frontier  zone,  should 
be  more  than  enough  in  itself  to  prevent  either,  without 

(73) 


74 

grave  discourtesy  towards  the  other,  from  secretly  entering 
into  a  treaty  for  such  purpose ;  and  that  if,  as  in  the  present 
case,  in  addition  to  these  reasons,  there  exists  a  solemn  and 
compeUing  agreement  on  the  subject,  my  Government 
will  understand  that  yours  cannot,  and  should  not,  allow 
such  an  absolute  ignoring  of  its  legitimate  rights  to  pass 
in  silence. 

Your  Excellency  concludes  by  presenting,  in  the  name 
of  your  Government,  formal  protest  against  the  unlawful 
conclusion  of  the  treaty  in  question. 

Acting  under  instructions  from  the  President  of  the 
Republic,  I  have  the  honor  to  reply  to  your  Excellency 
as  follows : 

The  Government  of  Nicaragua  exercised  a  right  of  incon- 
testable sovereignty  when  it  entered  into  the  convention  of 
February  8th,  last,  with  the  United  States,  which  conven- 
tion has  been  kept  secret  for  reasons  of  an  international 
character  that  affect  not  it  alone ;  but  declares  in  the  most 
positive  manner,  that  in  entering  into  that  pact,  it  has  not 
ignored  any  right  that  belongs  to  Costa  Rica,  nor  has  it 
committed;  as  stated  by  your  Excellency,  any  violation 
of  the  treaties  existing  between  the  two  nations. 

That  convention  is  a  contract  that  comprises  various  and 
transcendentally  important  considerations  in  the  politi- 
cal and  economic  life  of  Nicaragua,  and  in  which  that 
country  has  adhered  strictly  to  her  incontestable  rights, 
unreservedly  yet  unselfishly.  For  it  tends  towards  the 
realization  of  high  interests  and  mutual  advantages  to  the 
contracting  countries ;  towards  the  economic  development 
and  vigorous  impulse  towards  the  prosperity  of  the  country 
under  a  government  of  order  and  of  law ;  towards  procur- 
ing, as  far  as  possible,  the  construction  of  an  interoceanic 
canal  through  a  route  exclusively  Nicaraguan,  which, 
when  the  time  comes,  will  be  determined,  together  with 
the  surrounding  conditions,  by  the  contract  just  concluded 


75 

and  towards  other  advantages  relating  to  public  works  and 
national  welfare.  For  all  this  my  Government  strives 
through  the  convention  in  question,  and  under  the  further 
impulse  of  a  just  hope  to  achieve  at  once  Nicaragua's  posi- 
tion among  the  other  peoples,  having  in  mind  the  new  and 
exceptional  conditions  that  must  accrue  to  those  countries 
from  the  approaching  opening  of  the  great  commercial 
highway  at  Panama  and  the  possible  construction  of  a 
canal  through  Nicaragua. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  neither  Article  VIII  of  the 
treaty  of  1858,  nor  point  X  resolved  by  President  Cleve- 
land, in  his  award  of  1888,  which  your  Excellency  cites  as 
proof  of  Nicaragua's  incapacity  to  enter  into  the  said  pact — 
although  that  instrument  confines  itself  to  the  construc- 
tion of  a  canal  across  territory  exclusively  Nicaraguan — 
are  applicable  in  this  case,  since  it  merely  deals  with  a 
preferential  right,  granted  to  the  United  States,  to  open  an 
interoceanic  passageway  through  a  route  to  be  designated 
out  of  national  territory  when  it  shall  be  decided  to  under- 
take the  construction  thereof,  at  which  time  the  conditions 
under  which  the  canal  shall  be  constructed,  operated  and 
maintained  will  be  determined  by  the  contracting  parties 
by  a  further  convention  or  treaty. 

The  treaty  of  1858,  invoked  by  your  Excellency,  defines 
clearly  and  conclusively,  in  Article  VI,  Nicaragua's  posses- 
sion and  rights  over  the  San  Juan  River,  when  it  declares 
that  she  exclusively  possesses  ownership  and  sovereign 
authority  over  its  waters,  from  their  issuance  out  of  the 
lake,  to  their  disemboguement  in  the  Atlantic;  and  the 
award  of  President  Cleveland,  also  invoked  by  your  Excel- 
lency, categorically  and  expressly  confirms  that  possession 
and  those  rights,  in  its  decision  of  point  XI,  submitted  by 
this  Government,  and  declares  that  Costa  Rica  has  no 
right  to  be  a  party  to  the  concessions  which  Nicaragua 
may  make  for  interoceanic  canal  purposes. 


76 

In  the  presence  of  such  expHcit  evidence,  my  Govern- 
ment is  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  there  can  still  be  any 
discussion  of  the  right  possessed  by  Nicaragua,  in  her 
capacity  of  sole  and  absolute  owner  of  the  territory 
through  which  it  is  probable  the  work  will  be  effected,  to 
choose  the  person  or  persons,  whether  private  corporations 
or  governments,  with  whom  she  proposes  or  desires  to 
contract  for  the  possible  construction  of  a  canal  which, 
in  any  event,  will  be  embraced  within  her  own  territorial 
limits,  and  the  course  of  which,  and  the  conditions,  have 
not  yet  been  fixed,  unless  the  "close  and  binding  commu- 
nity of  interests  involved  for  the  two  countries  by  the 
construction  of  a  canal  on  a  frontier  zone,"  of  which  Your 
Excellency  speaks,  is  based  on  the  inadmissible  theory  of 
co-sovereignty  over  such  canal  itself.  This  theory,  of 
course,  could  not  have  been  in  Your  Excellency's  thoughts, 
since  it  is  in  open  and  irreconcilable  conflict  with  the  text 
of  the  treaty  of  1858,  that  gives  to  Nicaragua  the  owner- 
ship and  sovereign  authority  of  the  waters  of  the  San 
Juan  River,  and  with  the  Cleveland  award,  that  denies 
to  Costa  Rica  the  right  to  be  a  party  to  canal  concessions 
and  that,  in  referring  to  compensation  which  the  latter 
republic  may  claim  for  concessions  asked  of  it  in  cases 
wherein  the  construction  of  such  canal  involves  damages 
to  its  natural  rights,  declares  that  Costa  Rica  is  not 
''entitled  as  a  right  to  share  in  the  profits  that  the  Republic 
of  Nicaragua  may  reserve  for  herself  as  a  compensation 
for  such  favors  and  privileges  as  she,  in  her  turn,  may 
concede." 

Therefore,  dealing  with  a  simple  option  for  a  canal 
concession,  Nicaragua,  as  sole  sovereign  over  the  terri- 
tory that  will  be  the  site  of  the  great  undertaking,  is  wholly 
within  her  incontestable  rights  in  entering  singly  and  alone 
into  that  engagement. 


77 

Your  Excellency's  protest  is,  therefore,  unfounded,  as 
is  also  that  which  your  Government  has  lodged  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  according  to  your  note, 
to  which  this  is  a  reply. 

With  regard  to  the  sentiments  of  confraternity  which 
the  Government  of  the  Republic  has  always  entertained 
for  the  Central  American  countries,  it  has  on  repeated 
occasions  given  eloquent  proofs,  even  when  dealing  with 
this  very  matter  of  a  canal.  In  1877,  for  instance,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  treaties  or  positive  obligations,  the 
Nicaraguan  Executive,  moved  solely  by  a  high  conception 
of  sincere  and  practical  Central  Americanism,  proposed  at 
Washington,  through  the  medium  of  its  Minister,  the 
illustrious  citizen.  Dr.  Adan  Cardenas,  that  all  the  rights, 
privileges  and  powers  relating  to  the  canal  and  the  use  of 
ports  and  accessible  places  that  were  conceded  to  Nica- 
ragua in  the  treaty  then  being  negotiated,  should  be  con- 
ceded also  to  the  other  Republics  of  Central  America,  and 
they  were  so  set  forth  in  Article  VI  of  the  counter-proposal 
made  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  by  that 
distinguished  diplomat. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing,  I  have  no  doubt  that  Your 
Excellency  will  realize  that  the  ideas  expressed  in  the  note 
to  which  this  is  an  answer  are  in  every  regard  unreason- 
able, for,  as  has  been  shown  by  an  abundance  of  reasons 
and  arguments,  when  the  convention  in  question  was 
entered  into,  there  was  on  the  part  of  Nicaragua  no  viola- 
tion of  existing  treaties  nor  discourtesy  to  Costa  Rica,  nor 
any  disregard  or  forge tfulness  of  her  legitimate  rights. 
And  the  President  of  the  Republic  takes  refuge  in  the 
conviction  that,  whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  Your 
Excellency's  Government  in  the  matter,  it  will  in  no  event 
cease  to  recognize  the  loyalty  and  good  faith  with  which 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  has  always  been  actuated 
in  its  international  relations,  especially  with  the  States 


78 

of  Central  America  which,  perhaps  in  the  not  distant 
future,  may  be  called  to  unite  in  themselves  a  single  nation. 
I  beg  that  Your  Excellency  will  accept  the  assurances 
of  my  personal  appreciation  and  high  esteem. 

Diego  M.  Chamorro. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Don  Francisco  Cabezas  Gomez, 

Minister  of  Costa  Rica  in  Nicaragua. 

(From  the  Report  on  Foreign  Relations  and  Public 
Instruction  of  Nicaragua,  Managua,  1914,  Vol.  I,  page 
100.) 


APPENDIX  I. 

Costa  Rican  Legation, 

Managua,  July  jo,  191 3. 

Mr.  Minister:  In  obedience  to  instructions  from  my 
Government,  I  have  the  honor  to  hand  Your  Excellency 
herewith  a  copy  of  the  newspaper  La  Republica,  No.  8810, 
of  July  4,  1 913,  published  at  the  capital  of  Costa  Rica, 
and  in  which  is  found  the  text  of  the  convention  between 
the  United  States  and  Nicaragua  for  the  construction  of  a 
canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River. 

In  handing  this  to  Your  Excellency,  permit  me,  in  the 
name  of  my  Government,  to  request  that  you  answer 
categorically  whether  the  text  of  said  convention  as 
therein  published  is  authentic,  as  well  generally  as  in 
each  of  its  paragraphs,  and,  if  not,  that  you  make  the 
appropriate  corrections. 

As  this  relates  to  a  matter  involving  important  interests 
that  bind  the  two  countries  by  virtue  of  international 
promises,  my  Government  is  confident  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  Your  Excellency  will  in  strict  justice  be  pleased 
to  make  satisfactory  reply  to  our  request. 

I  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my 
distinguished  consideration  and  my  personal  esteem. 

F.  Cabezas  Gomez. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Sefior  Don  Diego  M.  Chamorro, 

Minister  of  Foreign  Relations. 

(From  the  Report  on  Foreign  Relations  and  Public 
Instruction  of  Nicaragua,  Managua,  19 14,  Vol.  I,  page 
103.) 


(79) 


APPENDIX  J. 

August  4,  1913. 

Mr.  Minister:  Your  Excellency,  in  your  courteous 
note  of  July  30,  ultimo,  has  been  good  enough  to  hand 
this  Department  a  copy  of  La  Repuhlica,  No.  8810,  a 
newspaper  published  in  San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica,  and, 
referring  to  a  convention  concerning  an  interoceanic 
canal  that  is  published  in  its  pages,  and  that  bears  the 
names  of  the  President  of  Nicaragua  and  his  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations,  Your  Excellency,  in  the  name  of 
your  Government,  asks  this  Department  to  state  cate- 
gorically whether  the  text  of  that  convention  is  authentic, 
as  well  generally  as  in  each  of  its  paragraphs,  and,  if  not, 
to  make  the  appropriate  corrections. 

I  regret  to  have  to  inform  Your  Excellency,  in  confirma- 
tion of  the  statements  contained  in  my  note  of  the  12  th 
of  last  June,  that,  for  considerations  of  an  international 
character,  that  involve  not  alone  my  own  Government, 
the  latter  is  keeping  secret  the  convention  entered  into 
with  the  United  States  on  the  8th  of  last  February;  and 
that,  since  it  relates  to  a  pact  not  yet  perfected,  it  is  not 
proper  for  the  Government  of  Nicaragua,  on  its  part, 
for  the  reasons  contained  in  its  said  note,  to  make  any 
official  declaration  regarding  any  of  the  steps  in  such 
negotiations. 

Deeply  chagrined  that  the  reasons  set  forth  prevent 
my  replying  otherwise  to  your  request,  I  take  pleasure  in 
renewing  to  Your  Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  highest 
appreciation. 

Diego  M.  Chamorro. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Sefior  Don  Francisco  Cabezas  Gomez, 

Minister  of  Costa  Rica  in  Nicaragua. 

(From  the  Report  on  Foreign  Relations  and  Public 
Instruction  of  Nicaragua,  Managua,  19 14,  Vol.  I,  page 
104.) 

(80) 


APPENDIX  K. 

(This  is  the  Report  on  Foreign  Relations  and  Public 
Instruction  of  Nicaragua,  Managua,  19 14,  Documents, 
Vol.  I,  from  which  are  taken  Exhibits  F,  H,  I,  and  J, 
appearing  at  pages  98  to  105  of  the  original.) 


(81) 


APPENDIX  L. 

Text  of  the  Convention  between  the  United  States 
AND  Nicaragua  for  the  construction  of  a  canal 

BY  WAY  OF  THE  SaN  JUAN  RivER. 

(As  published  in  La  Republica,  No.  8810,  of  July  4, 
1 91 3,  at  San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica.) 

IS  IT  AN  "OPTION"  OR  A  DEFINITIVE 
TRANSACTION? 

The  following  is  the  text  of  a  convention  entered  into 
between  the  United  States  and  Nicaragua,  against  which 
the  Government  of  Costa  Rica  protests,  and  which  is 
called  a  simple  ''option"  by  the  Nicaraguan  Government. 
It  is  published  so  that  the  Costa  Rican  people  may  have 
an  exact  knowledge  of  that  transaction. 

CONVENTION. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America  and 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  being  animated  by  the 
desire  to  strengthen  their  ancient  and  cordial  friendship 
by  the  most  sincere  cooperation  for  all  purposes  of  mutual 
advantage  and  interest  to  the  two  nations;  and  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua  being  desirous  to  promote  in 
every  way  economic  development  and  prosperity  under 
orderly  and  lawful  government  and  the  maintenance  of 
its  rights  as  secured  by  the  Washington  Conventions; 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  being  in  full 
sympathy  with  these  aims  and  desiring  to  lend  to  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua  all  proper  assistance  in  these 
matters  and  also  in  the  furtherance  of  various  public 
works  and  measures  conducive  to  its  welfare  and  economic 

(82) 


83 

development ;  and  it  being  the  desire  of  both  Governments 
to  reaffirm  the  principle  of  the  first  paragraph  of  the 
Protocol  of  December  i,  1900,  and  to  provide  for  the 
possible  future  construction  of  an  interoceanic  ship  canal 
by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River  and  the  Great  Lake  of 
Nicaragua  or  via  any  other  route  over  Nicaraguan  terri- 
tory, whenever  the  construction  of  such  canal  shall  be 
deemed  conducive  to  the  interests  of  both  countries; 
and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua,  wishing  to  facilitate 
in  every  way  possible  the  successful  construction,  main- 
tenance, and  operation  of  such  canal  and  also  the  main- 
tenance and  operation  of  the  Panama  Canal,  the  two 
Governments  have  resolved  to  conclude  a  convention  to 
these  ends,  and  have  accordingly  appointed  as  their 
plenipotentiaries,  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
George  T.  Weitzel,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  of  America;  and  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua,  Diego  Manuel  Chamorro, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua, 
who,  having  exhibited  to  each  other  their  respective  full 
powers,  found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form,  have  agreed 
upon  and  concluded  the  following  articles : 

Article  I. 

The  Government  of  Nicaragua  grants  in  perpetuity  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  the  unencumbered 
exclusive  rights  necessary  and  convenient  to  the  construc- 
tion, operation,  and  maintenance  of  an  interoceanic  canal 
by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River  and  the  Great  Lake  of 
Nicaragua,  or  by  way  of  any  other  route  over  Nicaraguan 
territory,  the  details  of  the  terms  upon  which  such  canal 
shall  be  constructed,  operated,  and  maintained  to  be  fixed 
by  mutual  consultation  between  the  two  Governments 
whenever  the  construction  of  such  canal  shall  be  decided 
upon. 


84 

Article  II. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  protection  of  the  Panama 
Canal  and  of  the  canal,  canal  route,  and  the  rights  con- 
templated by  the  present  convention  and  also  to  enable 
the  United  States  to  take  any  measure  or  to  assist  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua  in  any  measures  necessary  to 
the  ends  contemplated  herein,  the  Government  of  Nica- 
ragua hereby  leases  for  ninety-nine  years  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  the  islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea 
known  as  Great  Corn  and  Little  Corn  Islands  and  cove- 
nants that,  at  such  time  and  at  such  place  on  the  Gulf  of 
Fonseca  as  the  Government  of  the  United  States  may 
designate,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  shall 
have  the  right  to  establish,  operate  and  maintain  for 
ninety-nine  years  a  naval  base. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the 
option  of  renewing  either  or  both  of  the  above  grants  con- 
tained in  this  article  upon  the  expiration  of  the  ninety-nine 
years  aforesaid. 

Article  III. 

The  Government  of  Nicaragua  hereby  grants  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  in  perpetuity  the  right 
of  ships  of  the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States  to 
engage  in  coastwise  trade  in  Nicaragua,  either  by  way  of 
the  aforementioned  canal  or  otherwise,  with  a  right  to 
discharge  or  load  in  part  or  in  whole  at  all  Nicaraguan  ports 
while  engaged  in  any  voyage  on  terms  identical  with  those 
imposed  on  Nicaraguan  citizens  or  vessels. 

Article  IV. 

In  consideration  of  the  foregoing  stipulations  and  of  the 
purposes  of  this  convention,  the  Government  of  the  United 


85 

States  shall  pay,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Government  of 
Nicaragua,  the  sum  of  three  million  dollars  ($3,000,000), 
United  States  Gold  Coin  of  the  present  weight  and  fine- 
ness, such  payment  to  be  made  to  a  depository,  an  American 
banking  corporation  designated  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  be  disbursed  in  the  construction 
of  public  works  or  for  the  benefit  of  public  education  or 
the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  Nicaragua  in  a  manner 
to  be  determined  by  the  two  High  Contracting  Parties,  all 
such  disbursements  to  be  made  by  orders  drawn  by  the 
Minister  of  Finance  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  and 
approved  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  or 
by  such  person  as  he  may  designate. 

The  payment  above  referred  to  shall  be  made  within  one 
year  from  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this 
convention. 

Article  V. 

This  convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the  High  Contract- 
ing Parties  according  to  their  respective  laws,  and  the 
ratifications  thereof  shall  be  exchanged  at  Washington  as 
soon  as  possible. 

In  faith  whereof  we,  the  respective  plenipotentiaries, 
have  hereunto  afiixed  our  hands  and  seals. 

Done  in  duplicate  in  the  English  and  Spanish  languages 
at  Managua,  this  eighth  day  of  February,  nineteen  hun- 
dred and  thirteen. 

George  T.  Weitzel.  [seal] 

Diego  Manuel  Chamorro.     [seal] 

The  President  of  the  Republic,  having  examined  the 
foregoing  convention  and  finding  it  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  instructions  given  to  the  Plenipotentiary  charged 
with  its  negotiation. 


86 

BE  IT  RESOLVED, 
That  it  be  approved  and  submitted  to  the  Assembly  for 
action  according  to  law.     Executive  Palace,   Managua, 
February  9,  191 3. 

[sEAi.]  A.  Diaz. 

D.  M.  Chamorro, 

Minister  of  Foreign  Relations. 
[SEAI.] 

The  Congress  of  Nicaragua,  as  is  well  known,  ratified 
this  contract  in  all  its  parts. 


APPENDIX  LL. 

Statement  of  John  N.  Popham  to  the  Honorable  Com- 
mittee ON  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Senate  in 

SUPPORT  OF  THE  GaLLINGER  RESOLUTION  OF  JUNE 
29,  1 914,  FOR  THE  INVESTIGATION  AND  PROTECTION 
OF  THE  RIGHTS  OF  CoSTA  RiCA  AS  AFFECTED  BY  THE 
PENDING  NiCARAGUAN  TrEATY. 

Senators:  My  identity  with  the  American  interests  in 
Costa  Rica,  as  disclosed  in  my  late  letter  to  Senator 
Gallinger  and  printed  in  the  Congressional  Record  of 
June  29,  19 14,  in  conjunction  with  the  Gallinger  Resolu- 
tion authorizing  and  directing  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  to  carefully  investigate  the  question  of  the  rights 
and  interests  of  Costa  Rica  in  the  Nicaraguan  Canal 
Route,  and  what  bearing  the  pending  treaty  with  Nica- 
ragua may  have  upon  such  rights  that  they  may  be 
properly  guarded  and  protected  by  the  vSenate  in  whatever 
action  may  be  had  upon  said  treaty,  indicates  quite  clearly 
that  I  have  enlisted  as  an  American  volunteer  in  the  cause 
of  the  formal  protest  of  Costa  Rica,  made  by  her  Legation 
to  our  Department  of  State,  April  17,  19 13,  and  by  a 
similar  note  presented  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
by  her  Legation  at  Managua,  against  the  consummation 
of  the  pending  Convention  between  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua ;  and 
my  vindication  in  so  doing  rests  upon  the  plighted  faith 
of  our  Government  and  Nicaragua,  of  which  the  civilized 
world  is  cognizant,  by  which  they  solemnly  pledged  them- 
selves not  to  do  or  attempt  to  do  what  they  are  now  seek- 
ing to  do  by  the  sanction  of  the  American  Senate. 

I  do  not  deem  it  essential  to  my  present  purpose,  or 
important  to  you,  to  review  in  detail  the  memoranda  of 
events,  differences  and  controversies  between  Nicaragua 
and  Costa  Rica  leading  up  to  this  final  protest  of  which 

(87) 


88 

it  is  the  prelude,  because  they  were  each  and  all  merged 
in  the  solemn  agreement  made  and  entered  into  by  both 
parties  to  submit  the  same  to  the  arbitration  of  President 
Cleveland  and  which  were  finally  adjudicated  and  deter- 
mined in  his  award  of  March  22,  1888,  known  as  the 
Award  of  President  Cleveland  in  the  Boundary  Dispute 
between  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua. 

This  award  was  not  made  by  Grover  Cleveland  in  his 
individual  capacity,  but  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
the  executive  guardian  of  the  Monroe  Manifesto,  and  a 
conservator  of  peace  among  the  nations  of  Central  and 
South  America;  and  he  was  chosen  by  both  parties  as 
such  arbitrator  because  they  believed  on  account  of  his 
exalted  position  and  high  personal  character,  that  he  would 
mete  out  to  them  even  and  exact  justice  upon  all  the 
questions  submitted  to  him  in  that  arbitration. 

The  integrity  and  justice  of  this  award  has  never  been 
questioned.  It  was  a  great  work,  admirably  performed, 
and  no  doubt  was  very  effective  in  averting  a  war  between 
Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica.  .It  was  and  is  res  judicata  as 
to  all  the  parties  to  the  record,  and  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  is 
clothed  with  the  responsibility  to  see  that  it  is  steadily 
maintained  and  observed.  There  is  no  power  in  this 
Government  to  alter  that  decree,  nor  in  Nicaragua,  nor 
in  Costa  Rica.  That  power  rests  alone  in  the  united  con- 
sent of  the  three  governments. 

That  part  of  this  award  to  which  I  especially  call  your 
attention  and  which  the  pending  Convention  with  Nica- 
ragua directly  contravenes  is  as  follows : 

"10.  The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  remains  bound 
not  to  make  any  grants  for  canal  purposes  across  her 
territory  without  first  asking  the  opinion  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Costa  Rica,  as  provided  in  Article  VIII  of  the 
Treaty  of  Limits  of  the  15th  day  of  April,  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred   and   fifty-eight.      The   natural 


89 

rights  of  the  RepubHc  of  Costa  Rica  alluded  to  in  the 
said  stipulation  are  the  rights  which,  in  view  of  the 
boundaries  fixed  by  the  said  Treaty  of  Limits,  she 
possesses  in  the  soil  thereby  recognized  as  belonging 
exclusively  to  her;  the  rights  which  she  possesses  in 
the  harbors  of  San  Juan  del  Norte  and  Salinas  Bay; 
and  the  rights  which  she  possesses  in  so  much  of  the 
River  of  San  Juan  as  lies  more  than  three  English 
miles  below  Castillo  Viejo,  measuring  from  the  exte- 
rior fortifications  of  the  said  castle  as  the  same  existed 
in  the  year  1858;  and  perhaps  other  rights  not  here 
particularly  specified.  These  rights  are  to  be  deemed 
injured  in  any  case  where  the  territory  belonging  to 
the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  occupied  or  flooded; 
where  there  is  an  encroachment  upon  either  of  the 
said  harbors  injurious  to  Costa  Rica;  or  where  there 
is  such  an  obstruction  or  deviation  of  the  River  San 
Juan  as  to  destroy  or  seriously  impair  the  navigation 
of  the  said  river  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point 
where  Costa  Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same." 

It  does  not  require  much  legal  acumen,  I  think,  to  un- 
derstand why  the  gifted  arbitrator  should  hold  as  he  did, 
that  "The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  remains  bound  not  to 
make  any  grant  for  canal  purposes  across  her  territory 
without  first  asking  the  opinion  of  the  Republic  of  Costa 
Rica,  as  provided  in  Article  VIII  of  the  Treaty  of  Limits 
of  the  15th  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-eight." 

It  was  because  he  ascertained  from  the  plats  and  sur- 
veys of  the  engineers  in  evidence  before  him  that  it  was 
impossible  to  build  and  operate  an  interoceanic  canal  in 
Nicaragua  without  affecting  Costa  Rican  land  and  waters, 
to  which  he  calls  attention  in  the  award  sufficiently  to 
establish  that  fact  beyond  question.  His  award  shows 
that  the  natural  rights  of  these  two  republics  are  so  dis- 
tributed and  interlaced  within  and  about  the  territory 
which  must  be  embraced  in  said  waterway  to  make  it 
available  for  the  purpose  of  transportation,  that  it  can 


90 

only  be  considered  purchased,  controlled  or  used  other- 
wise than  as  a  unit,  resting  in  separate  ownership,  but  one 
and  inseparable  as  a  waterway  franchise. 

Although  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  had 
a  jealous  and  watchful  eye  upon  this  waterway  since  the 
Resolution  of  1835  passed  the  Senate,  authorizing  Presi- 
dent Jackson  to  have  it  investigated  to  determine  its 
feasibility  as  such,  the  first  real  negotiation  for  the  control 
and  construction  of  the  same  was  initiated  upon  the 
acceptance  and  strength  of  the  President  Cleveland 
Award.  It  was  pursuant  to  this  award  that  the  protocols 
of  December  i,  1900,  were  signed  by  our  Government, 
Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  followed  by  negotiations  for 
its  acquirement  and  construction,  by  the  terms  of  which 
Protocols  Nicaragua  was  to  receive  $6,000,000  and  an 
annual  rental  of  $25,000  in  gold,  and  Costa  Rica  $1,500,000 
in  gold  for  their  respective  concessions.  Negotiations 
advanced  well  nigh  to  a  finality;  surveys  were  made, 
treaties  formulated;  the  Plepburn  bill  had  passed  the  House 
and  in  the  Senate,  when  all  at  once  a  new  project  appeared 
in  the  so-called  Spooner  Act — the  alternative  Panama 
Canal  project;  but  that  Act  did  not  lose  sight  of  the 
Nicaragua  enterprise,  and  authorized  and  directed  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  case  the  effort  to  obtain 
the  property  of  the  new  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the 
control  of  the  necessary  territory  and  other  necessary  con- 
cessions from  the  Republic  of  Colombia  should  fail,  then 
he  was  to  return  to  the  "first  love,"  resume  negotiations 
with  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  and  acquire  the  title  to 
the  route  from  them  and  proceed  at  once  to  construct  the 
canal  commonly  known  as  the  Nicaragua  Route. 

To  the  great  disappointment  of  the  Republics  of 
Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  the  Panama  Canal  project 
prevailed  and  is  now  substantially  completed.  Still,  it 
has  come  to  us  through  great  tribulations,  in  securing  our 


91 

title  to  the  Zone  through  and  offshoot  cleavage  of  the 
Colombian  Government,  causing  a  wound  that  may  never 
fully  heal,  and  now  we  are  turning  our  attention  toward 
the  acquirement  of  the  old  Nicaraguan  route,  the  only 
one  now  left  between  the  two  oceans  available  for  the 
purpose,  and  are  doing  so  without  regard  to  treaty  obliga- 
tions and  the  solemn  award  of  one  of  our  own  Presidents, 
and  at  the  hazard  of  precipitating  a  war  between  Costa 
Rica  and  Nicaragua,  to  whom  we  owe  the  guarantees  of 
protection  and  peace. 

It  is  most  natural  now  to  ask  why  Costa  Rica  should  be 
ignored  by  our  Government  and  Nicaragua  in  the  pending 
Convention. 

She  has  expressed  no  unwillingness  to  cooperate  with 
her  sister  owner  in  the  waterway,  in  a  Convention  with 
our  Government  to  give  to  it  the  total  ownership  or  con- 
trol of  the  same  upon  a  just  ratio  of  valuation,  to  be  con- 
cluded simultaneously  with  a  Convention  made  with 
Nicaragua  for  the  same  purpose. 

She  asks  no  more  and  she  should  not  be  required  to 
take  less,  than  what  is  nominated  in  the  Treaty  with 
Nicaragua  long  since  made,  and  in  the  award  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

Has  Costa  Rica  not  a  just  right  to  complain  that  she 
has  been  left  to  learn  through  outside  sources  what  should 
have  been  communicated  to  her  through  legitimate 
government  channels,  namely,  that — 

"The  United  States  and  Nicaragua  have  signed  a 
convention  giving  to  the  former  exclusive  rights  to 
an  interoceanic  canal  across  Nicaragua,  without  con- 
sulting or  even  informing  the  Government  of  Costa 
•  Rica." 

That— 

"Said  convention  was  ratified  by  the  Congress  of 
Nicaragua  in  secret  session,  and  has  not  been  pub- 
lished as  yet,  which  is  against  the  usual  procedure  in 
cases  like  this,  and  may  be  said  against  the  law." 


92 

Here,  then,  is  a  case,  as  she  understands  it,  wherein 
one  overpowering  government  proposes,  by  diplomatic 
indirection,  or  the  exercise  of  unauthorized  treaty  power, 
to  put  it  in  its  mildest  form,  to  appropriate  to  herself  the 
absolute  control  of  a  vast  property  interest  of  a  friendly 
but  weaker  nation,  without  provocation,  without  com- 
pensation, without  notice,  or  explanation,  without  pur- 
chase or  negotiation  and  without  paying  the  other  joint 
owner  anything  for  her  interest  therein,  which  means, 
under  the  circumstances,  the  virtual  confiscation  of  that 
interest.  Or  to  resolve  it  in  another  way.  The  great 
Government  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  tie  up  in  her 
strong  hand  the  perpetual  control  of  the  only  waterway 
between  the  two  oceans  that  can  ever  come  in  competition 
with  her  own,  at  Panama,  proposes  to  buy  the  joint 
interest  of  one  of  the  owners  therein  and  thus  get  such 
control  of  the  whole  property. 

In  this  situation  of  affairs  obviously  the  only  course 
left  for  Costa  Rica  to  pursue  in  the  premises  was  to 
promptly  present  her  remonstrance  to  our  Department  of 
State  according  to  the  custom  of  nations  in  such  cases, 
against  the  perfection  of  this  invasion  of  her  just  rights,  and 
this  she  did  through  her  duly  accredited  representatives 
in  Washington  on  the  17th  day  of  April,  1913,  in  due  form, 
that  part  of  which  I  deem  essential  to  my  purpose,  I 
quote  as  follows : 

"Mr.  Secretary:  My  Government  has  learned, 
although  in  an  informal  way,  that  during  the  latter 
part  of  February  last  there  was  submitted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  contract 
made  between  the  Governments  of  Nicaragua  and 
Washington  for  the  construction  of  an  interoceahic 
canal  through  the  former  Republic. 

"Such  information  has  caused  great  surprise  to  my 
Government,  inasmuch  as  the  transaction  to  which 
it  refers  could  not  have  been  carried  out  without  a 


93 

flagrant  violation  of  the  clear  treaties  actually  in 
force  which  prevent  Nicaragua  from  entering  into 
any  interoceanic  canal  agreement  without  previously 
consulting  Costa  Rica  in  one  instance,  and  without 
its  consent  in  another." 


"My  Government  not  only  has  incontrovertible 
reasons  de  jure  for  opposing  the  treaty,  but  power- 
ful, inflexible  reasons  de  facto  also  compel  it  to  inter- 
fere in  the  matter,  because,  as  Your  Excellency 
undoubtedly  knows  very  well,  it  is  impossible  from 
every  point  of  view  to  build  an  interoceanic  canal  in 
Nicaragua  without  affecting  Costa  Rican  lands  and 
waters  to  a  greater  or  less  extent." 

The  inherent  strength  of  this  remonstrance  of  Costa 
Rica  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  supported  by  and  in 
strict  accord  with  the  aforesaid  award  of  President  Cleve- 
land to  the  binding  force  of  which  both  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  are 
fully  and  finally  committed,  and  by  the  force  of  which 
they  are  stopped  under  the  well  settled  principles  of  law 
and  equity  from  the  exercise  .of  any  treaty  power  to  the 
exclusion  of  Costa  Rica  over  any  part  of  the  waterway  in 
question. 

It  is  plain  that  if  the  courts  of  the  United  States  were 
open  to  Costa  Rica  for  the  adjudication  of  this  question, 
they  would  afford  her  the  relief  to  which  she  is  entitled 
under  said  award,  and  why  should  not  the  forum  of  last 
resort  to  which  she  now  comes,  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  afford  her  that  relief  in  the  maintenance  of  her 
rights  under  the  same  award  ? 

I  could  not  help  thinking  when  I  read  the  noble  words  of 
President  Wilson  as  they  appeared  in  his  reported  speech, 
delivered  at  Philadelphia  on  Independence  Day,  wherein 
he  said  that  he  was  for  the  inviolability  of  international 
treaties,  that  he  was  willing  to  get  anything  for  an  Ameri- 


94 

can  that  money  can  buy  except  the  rights  of  other  men; 
that  he  would  not  encourage,  but  stop,  if  in  his  power,  an 
American  enterprise  in  foreign  countries,  particulary  in 
those  foreign  countries  which  are  not  strong  enough  to 
resist  us,  which  takes  the  shape  of  imposing  upon  and 
exploiting  the  masses  of  the  people  in  such  countries, — 
I  could  not  help  thinking,  I  repeat,  what  an  excellent 
opportunity  he  now  has  to  put  those  sentiments  in  practi- 
cal operation. 

They  can  be  vindicated  it  seems  to  me  no  better  than 
by  stopping,  as  he  may  do,  the  further  pursuit  of  a  treaty 
policy  or  convention,  that  if  persisted  in  threatens  to 
become  an  element  of  deadly  warfare  between  two  nations 
now  at  peace  with  each  other,  that  reopens  with  increased 
fury  an  old  strife  between  them  which  a  former  President 
of  the  United  States  wisely  adjusted  and  put  to  rest. 

Treaties  are  to  be  held  sacred  and  inviolate,  he  declares, 
but  here  is  a  convention  pending  that  openly  violates  a 
treaty  of  long  standing,  that  a  President  of  the  United 
States  has  held  to  be  valid  and  inviolable.  Here  is  an 
international  award  of  a  President  of  the  United  States 
based  largely  on  said  treaty,  which  is  first  assailed  and 
impeached  in  its  integrity  and  binding  force  by  the  Gov- 
ernment that  created  it.  In  such  a  case  the  superior 
strength  of  this  Government  is  its  weakness,  and  the  weak- 
ness of  Costa  Rica  becomes  her  strength. 

And  now,  in  closing,  I  only  wish  to  say  in  confirmation 
of  my  statements  already  published  in  the  Congressional 
Record  of  June  29,  1914,  as  to  the  unrest  of  the  people  of 
Costa  Rica  over  the  pending  treaty,  that  the  newly  elected 
President  Gonzalez  in  his  message  to  Congress,  May  8, 
1 914,  expressed  his  opposition  and  that  of  the  Costa  Rican 
people  against  the  making  of  any  treaties,  contracts  or 
concessions  of  this  kind  as  detrimental  to  the  autonomy 
of  Central  America.     And  this  is  being  reflected,  day  by 


95 

day,  through  the  well- written  protest  of  the  distinguished 
author,  Ramon  Rojas  Corrales,  pubHshed  and  widely  cir- 
culated by  the  Patriotic  League  of  Costa  Rica,  in  which 
the  people  of  that  RepubHc  have  implicit  confidence. 
Respectfully    yours, 

John  N.  Popham. 
Washington,  July  lo,  1914. 


Buckingham  Hotei., 
Washington,  D.  C,  June  24,  191 4. 

Hon.  Jacob  H.  Gai^unger, 

United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C. 

My  dear  Senator:  Recognizing  your  familiarity  with 
the  negotiations  and  legislation  connected  with  the  once 
contemplated  acquisition  of  the  Nicaragua  and  Costa 
Rica  Canal  route,  as  well  as  the  Panama  route  already 
acquired,  I  take  the  liberty  to  call  your  attention  to  that 
feature  of  the  pending  treaty  with  Nicaragua,  which  seeks 
to  obtain  control  of  that  route  in  the  interest  of  our  Govern- 
ment, and  the  relations  which  the  people  of  Costa  Rica 
sustain  toward  the  same.  But  permit  me  in  advance  to 
acquaint  you  with  the  standpoint  from  which  I  have 
acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  situation  there  as 
it  now  exists. 

I  was  appointed  to  the  ofhce  of  United  States  Special 
Treasury  Agent  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  in  1889,  and 
held  that  position  for  about  four  years,  when  I  resigned 
it  to  engage  in  the  business  of  developing  the  mineral 
resources  in  the  Department  of  Panama,  Republic  of 
Colombia,  now  the  Republic  of  Panama,  but  to  a  larger 
extent  in  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica. 

In  the  Department  of  Panama,  50  miles  east  of  Colon, 
I,  in  company  with  the  late  John  K.  Cowen,  then  presi- 
dent of  the  Baltimore  8z:  Ohio  Railroad,  and  J.  B.  McDon- 


96 

aid,  contractor  of  the  New  York  Subway,  constructed  a 
small  railroad  in  order  to  handle  metallic  ores  which  were 
exported  to  the  United  States.  We^expended  a  large  sum 
of  money,  all  American  capital,  in  this  enterprise,  export- 
ing a  great  many  thousands  of  tons  of  high-grade  man- 
ganese ores  to  the  United  States. 

In  Costa  Rica,  in  company  with  the  late  Senator  John  P. 
Jones  and  others,  I  personally  have  been  in  charge  of  the 
developing  of  mineral  properties.  In  this  small  district 
there  has  been  several  million  dollars  invested  by  Ameri- 
cans. In  the  particular  property  which  I  am  in  charge  of, 
known  as  the  Costa  Rica  Union  Mining  Co.,  an  American 
corporation,  we  have  completed  a  splendid  reduction  plant 
and  have  spent  about  $500,000  during  the  development 
of  the  property,  which  is  now  a  large  producing  property, 
and  one  of  the  most  successful  mines  in  Central  America, 
where  we  employ  a  large  number  of  Americans  and  a 
great  number  of  Costa  Rican  laborers.  Several  thousand 
Costa  Rican  laborers  are  employed  in  this  mining  district. 

We  are  now  large  exporters  of  bullion  to  the  United 
States,  which  fact  can  be  certified  to  through  the  United 
States  Mint  at  San  Francisco  and  the  assistant  treasurer 
at  New  York  City,  delivered  for  our  account  through  the 
International  Banking  Corporation. 

I  have  been  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  conditions 
existing  in  Panama  and  the  Repubhc  of  Costa  Rica  from 
intimate  business  associations  with  the  people  for  the  last 
20  years.  During  16  years  of  residence  in  Costa  Rica  I 
can  state  from  my  personal  knowledge  that  not  only  all 
American  enterprises,  but  all  foreign  enterprises  there, 
have  received  not  only  protection  from  the  Costa  Rican 
Government,  but  have  been  facihtated  in  their  under- 
takings in  every  possible  way;  but  our  difficulties  do  not 
come  through  the  failure  of  protection  and  help  that  we 
have  always  had  from  the  Costa  Rican  Government,  but 


97 

through  the  failure  of  our  being  able  to  secure  capable 
and  contented  labor  under  the  existing  conditions,  caused 
through  their  misunderstanding  of  our  present  relations 
and  intentions  toward  the  Republics  of  Colombia,  Mexico 
and  Nicaragua. 

•  Permit  me  now  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the 
exciting  causes  that  have  produced  this  condition  of 
unrest,  suspicion  and  discontent  among  the  masses  of  the 
Costa  Rican  people,  with  which  we  are  now  seriously 
confronted. 

The  secession  of  Panama  from  the  Republic  of  Colombia, 
leaving  the  uncertain  territorial  line  between  the  Repub- 
lics of  Panama  and  Costa  Rica  on  the  south,  which, 
though  now  being  arbitrated  before  Chief  Justice  White 
of  our  Supreme  Court,  the  Costa  Rican  masses  are  under 
the  impression  we  are  in  sympathy  with  Panama  on 
account  of  our  close  relations  with  and  large  interests 
there,  and,  to  the  north,  the  action  of  our  Government  in 
dealing  solely  and  alone  with  Nicaragua  to  acquire  arbi- 
trary control  of  the  only  highway  between  oceans  other 
than  Panama  without  giving  the  people  of  Costa  Rica  a 
voice  therein,  and  without  any  consideration  for  their 
well-recognized  ownership  of  a  part  of  this  highway;  and 
our  present  complications  with  Mexico;  and  the  many 
conflicting  accounts  published  through  our  newspapers 
translated  and  republished  in  Costa  Rica,  particularly 
such  as  Mr.  Watterson's  ''On  to  Panama,"  with  the 
reported  intention  of  our  acquiring  all  territory  north  of 
Panama;  and,  further,  the  late  military  operations  in 
Nicaragua  with  our  marines,  giving  possession  of  the 
Government  there  to  the  present  President  of  Nicaragua, 
causes  the  unthinking  part  of  the  Costa  Rican  people 
uncertainty  as  to  our  intentions  toward  them  and  their 
country.  At  the  present  time  it  is  common  talk  in  Costa 
Rica  that  the  Costa  Rican  Government,  in  calling  atten- 


98 

tion  of  our  State  Department  of  its  rights  in  the  Nica- 
raguan  highway,  received  no  satisfaction  whatever,  except 
to  be  informed  that  our  Government  was  not  purchasing 
the  highway,  only  arranging  for  a  Httle  option  upon  it. 

The  American  citizens  residing  in  Costa  Rica  and  doing 
business  with  the  Costa  Rican  people,  and  employing 
large  numbers  of  Costa  Rican  laborers,  feel  that  the 
American  Government  should  in  some  manner,  before 
final  action  upon  the  Nicaragua  treaty,  express  their 
intention  and  assure  the  Costa  Rican  people  that  we  will 
treat  with  equity  and  justice  whatever  rights  they  may 
have  in  the  Nicaraguan  route  as  originally  contemplated. 
Such  action  would  at  once  tend  to  reassure  the  Costa 
Rican  people  and  restore  to  us  the  splendid  business  rela- 
tion with  them  which  has  heretofore  existed. 

To  this  end  may  I  not  ask  you.  Senator,  on  behalf  of 
the  great  American  interests  there,  to  take  such  action  in 
the  Senate  in  consideration  of  the  pending  Nicaragua 
treaty  as  will  secure  to  and  protect  Costa  Rica's  rights  in 
said  highway? 

Yours  truly, 

J.  N.  POPHAM. 


APPENDIX  M. 

Washington,  D.  C, 

February  2,  IQ16. 

Mr.  Secretary:  I  was  profoundly  and  justifiedly 
surprised  this  afternoon  to  read,  in  today's  issue  of  the 
Washington  Star,  the  news  that  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Senate  had  recommended  the  ratification 
by  that  body  of  the  treaty  relating  to  the  construction  of 
an  interoceanic  canal,  and  other  matters,  that  was  con- 
cluded more  than  a  year  ago  by  His  Excellency  Secretary 
of  State  W.  J.  Bryan,  and  His  Excellency,  the  Minister 
of  Nicaragua  at  this  capital.  General  Don  Emiliano 
Chamorro. 

It  was  not  even  as  much  as  a  month  ago,  Mr.  Secretary, 
that  the  President  of  the  United  States  delivered,  before 
more  than  a  thousand  delegates  from  the  different  sover- 
eign nations  of  this  hemisphere,  a  most  admirable  and 
happily  conceived  address  on  the  true  meaning  of  Pan 
Americanism,  in  the  course  of  which  he  called  upon  all 
of  our  republics  to  uphold  the  rights  of  each,  and  maintain 
that  perfect  equality  which  must  reign  over  their  mutual 
relations. 

Scarcely  a  week  before  that  Your  Excellency  deigned 
to  lay  before  me  the  draft  of  a  Pan  American  Treaty, 
that  translated  in  pertinent  and  appropriate  clauses  the 
noble  and  redeeming  thoughts  so  masterfully  put  forth 
by  His  Excellency  President  Wilson  on  the  memorable 
night  of  the  6th  of  January,  last. 

With  these  antecedents  in  mind  Your  Excellency  will, 
I  am  sure,  agree  that  it  was  not  logical  to  suppose  that 
your  Government  would  go  forward  with  a  treaty,  for  the 
conclusion  of  which  one  of  the  parties,  Nicaragua,  is  ex- 
pressly inhibited  by  the  solemn  declaration  of  the  chief 
executive  of  the  other  party,  the  President  of  the  United 

(99) 


lOO 

States  himself — a  treaty  that  flagrantly  violates  the 
established  rights  of  a  third  party,  Costa  Rica,  and 
against  which  my  Government  has  repeatedly  lodged 
protests  before  the  Department  of  State. 

In  negotiating  with  Nicaragua  in  this  matter,  the 
United  States  has  been  treating  with  a  party  without 
capacity  to  contract,  and  ignorance  of  her  incapacity 
cannot  be  alleged  because  the  archives  of  the  State 
Department  show  that  it  was  no  less  an  authority  than 
the  President  of  the  United  States  himself  who  so  declared. 

Costa  Rica  is  not,  and  has  never  been,  systematically 
opposed  to  the  advance  of  progress.  She  takes  fully  and 
duly  into  account  the  fact  that  the  incessant  increase  in 
necessities  exacted  by  the  advance  in  civilization  will 
require  at  no  distant  date  the  opening  to  world  commerce 
of  a  new  interoceanic  highway  paralleling  the  Panama 
Canal;  moreover,  my  country  well  knows  how  utterly 
inadequate  are  her  own  resources  for  undertaking  such  a 
stupendous  enterprise  on  her  own  account. 

My  Government  also  understands  that  there  are  incon- 
trovertible reasons  why  the  United  States,  rather  than  any 
other  nation,  is  called  upon  to  render  that  great  service 
to  humanity,  but  it  naturally  desires  that  that  end  be 
reached  without  inflicting  upon  it  the  humiliation  result- 
ing from  the  consistent  ignoring,  down  to  the  present 
moment,  of  its  legitimate,  unquestionable  and  acknowl- 
edged rights. 

Animated  by  the  high  spirit  of  justice  that  so  ennobles 
the  eminent  executive  who  today  rules  over  the  destinies 
of  this  great  nation,  and  that  controls  also  the  course  of 
Your  Excellency,  his  distinguished  and  illustrious  collab- 
orator, I  respectfully  beg  Your  Excellency  to  be  so  good 
as  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  prevent  the  perfecting 
of  the  treaty  in  question  until  the  requisites  prescribed 
by  His  Excellency  Grover  Cleveland,  the  President  of  the 


'  lOI 

United  States,  in  his  award  of  March  22,  1888,  shall  have 
been  first  respected  and  complied  with. 

It  is  with  genuine  satisfaction,  Mr.  Secretary,  that  I 
avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to  Your 
Excellency  the  assurances  of  my  high  and  distinguished 
consideration. 

Manueiv  Castro  Quesada. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Robert  Lansing, 

Secretary  of  State,  Washington. 


APPENDIX  N. 

Memorandum  in  support  of  Costa  Rica's  joint 
RIGHTS  WITH  Nicaragua  in  connection  with  any 

INTEROCEANIC   CANAL  PROJECT    THAT    CONTEMPLATES 

THE  USE  OF  THE  San  Juan  River  and  Lake  Nica- 
ragua. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Chairman  and  Members  of  the  Foreign 
Relations  Committee  oj  the  United  States  Senate: 

From  the  year  1541,  when  the  Emporer  Charles  V  fixed 
the  northern  hmits  of  Costa  Rica,  down  through  the  gov- 
ernments of  Cavallon  (1561)  and  Artieda  (1573),  to  the 
present  era,  Costa  Rica  has  successfully  miantained  her 
rights  in  connection  with  the  waterway  which  is  to  be  a 
part  of  the  contemplated  Nicaraguan  canal — the  San 
Juan  River,  or  the  Desaguadero  of  Spanish  times,  through 
which  Lake  Nicaragua  finds  an  outlet  to  the  sea.  By  the 
Treaty  of  Limits  entered  into  by  Costa  Rica  and  Nica- 
ragua, on  the  15th  of  April,  1858,  those  rights  were  defined 
and  confirmed.  When,  in  1888,  that  treaty  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Cleveland,  as  a  result  of  Nicaragua's  repeated 
denials  of  its  validity,  the  arbitrator,  in  his  award  of 
March  22,  1888  (Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States 
for  1888,  Part  i,  pages  456,  et  seq.),  held  the  treaty  to  be 
valid  and  established  for  all  time  Costa  Rica's  riparian 
rights  in  a  part  of  the  San  Juan  River  and  her  joint  rights 
with  Nicaragua  in  connection  with  any  canal  project 
involving  the  use  of  that  river  and  the  lake. 

In  that  treaty,  the  boundary  line  of  Costa  Rica  "is 
made  to  begin  at  Punta  de  Castilla,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
San  Juan  River;  thence  it  follows  the  right  or  southern 

(102) 


I03 

bank  of  that  stream  to  a  point  three  miles  below  the 
Castillo  Viejo;  thence  it  runs  along  the  circumference  of  a 
circle  drawn  round  the  outworks  of  the  castle  as  a  center, 
with  a  radius  of  three  miles,  to  a  point  on  the  western 
side  of  the  castle,  distant  two  miles  from  the  river ;  thence 
parallel  to  the  San  Juan  and  the  lake,  at  a  distance  of 
two  miles  therefrom,  to  the  Sapoa  River;  and  thence  in  a 
straight  line  to  the  center  of  Salinas  Bay  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean." 

The  Cleveland  award,  after  upholding  the  validity  of 
the  treaty  fixing  the  above  boundary  line,  proceeds  to  set 
forth  Costa  Rica's  rights  in  connection  with  the  canal 
course  that  has  such  vitally  essential  relations  with  that 
boundary ; 

''The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  has  the  right  to 
demand  indemnification  for  any  places  belonging  to 
her  on  the  right  bank  of  the  River  San  Juan  which 
may  be  occupied  without  her  consent,  and  for  any 
lands  on  the  same  bank  which  may  be  flooded  or 
damaged  in  any  other  way  in  consequence  of  works 
of  improvement.     *     *     * 

"THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA  CAN 
DENY  TO  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA 
THE  RIGHT  OF  DEVIATING  THE  WATERS 
OF  THE  RIVER  SAN  JUAN  IN  CASE  SUCH 
DEVIATION  WILL  RESULT  IN  THE  DESTRUC- 
TION OR  SERIOUS  IMPAIRMENT  OF  THE 
NAVIGATION  OF  THE  SAID  RIVER,  OR  ANY 
OF  ITS  BRANCHES,  AT  ANY  POINT  WHERE 
COSTA  RICA  IS  ENTITLED  TO  NAVIGATE 
THE  SAME. 

"THE  REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA  REMAINS 
BOUND  NOT  TO  MAKE  ANY  GRANTS  FOR 
CANAL  PURPOSES  ACROSS  HER  TERRITORY 
WITHOUT  FIRST  ASKING  THE  OPINION  OF 
THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA,  AS  PROVID- 
ED IN  ARTICLE  VIII  OF  THE  TREATY  OF 
LIMITS  OF  THE  15th  DAY  OF  APRIL,  1858." 


I04 

Construing  Article  VIII,  in  this  regard,  the  arbitrator 
says  further  along : 

"In  cases  where  the  construction  of  the  canal  will 
involve  an  injury  to  the  naUiral  rights  of  Costa  Rica, 
her  opinion,  or  advice,  as  mentioned  in  Article  VIII 
of  the  treaty,  should  be  more  than  '  advisory '  or  '  con- 
•sultative.'  It  would  seem  in  such  cases  that  her  con- 
sent is  necessary,  and  that  she  may  thereupon  demand 
compensation  for  the  concessions  she  is  asked  to 
make." 

The  Government  of  Costa  Rica  was  not  consulted,  as 
stipulated  for  in  the  treaty  of  1858,  when  either  the 
Chamorro-Weitzel  or  the  Chamorro-Bryan  treaty  was 
being  negotiated.  So  deliberate  was  this  violation  of  that 
treaty,  and  so  evident  the  contempt  for  the  Cleveland 
award,  that  Costa  Rica  would  have  beei;i  justified  in  a 
declaration  of  war  against  her  neighbor,  and  might  have 
proceeded  to  this  extreme  had  she  not  been  strong  in  her 
reliance  upon  the  strict  sense  of  justice  that  has  animated 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  heretofore  in  her 
relations  with  that  country. 

Continuing  his  definition  of  the  rights  of  Costa  Rica  in 
connection  with  the  canal  project,  the  arbitrator  says: 

''The  natural  rights  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica 
alluded  to  in  the  said  stipulation  (Art.  VIII)  are  the 
rights  which,  in  view  of  the  boundaries  fixed  by  the 
said  Treaty  of  Limits,  she  possesses  in  the  soil  thereby 
recognized  as  belonging  exclusively  to  her;  the 
rights  which  she  possesses  in  the  harbors  of  San  Juan 
del  Norte  and  Salinas  Bay;  and  the  rights  which 
she  possesses  in  so  much  of  the  River  San  Juan  as 
lies  more  than  three  English  miles  below  Castillo 
Viejo,  measuring  from  the  exterior  fortifications  of 
the  said  castle  as  the  same  existed  in  the  year  1858; 
and  perhaps  other  rights  not  here  particularly 
specified.  These  rights  are  to  be  deemed  injured  in 
any  case  where  the  territory  belonging  to  the  Republic 


I05 

of  Costa  Rica  is  occupied  or  flooded;  where  there  is 
an  encroachment  upon  either  of  the  said  harbors 
injurious  to  Costa  Rica;  or  where  there  is  such  an 
obstruction  or  deviation  of  the  River  San  Juan  as  to 
destroy  or  seriously  impair  the  navigation  of  the  said 
river,  or  any  of  its  branches  at  any  point  where  Costa 
Rica  is  entitled  to  navigate  the  same."  (Ibid.,  pages 
458,  459-) 

The  foregoing  positive  findings  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  acting  as  arbitrator  of  the  treaty  rights 
now  being  urged  upon  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  by  Costa  Rica,  are  cited  and  supported  by  the 
Isthmian  Canal  Commission — the  so-called  ''Walker 
Commission" — in  its  most  exhaustive  and  authoritative 
report  of  November  16,  1901  (Senate  Document  No.  222, 
58th  Congress,  2d  session).  In  Chapter  VIII  of  that 
report,  on  ''Rights,  Privileges  and  Franchises,"  the  Com- 
mission goes  fully  into  the  history  and  the  legal  status 
of  Costa  Rica's  rights  and  interests  in  connection  with 
any  canal  project  involving  the  use  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  territory  adjacent  to  the  Costa  Rican  frontier,  and 
reaches  the  conclusion  that  any  concession  contemplating 
such  use  must  be  a  joint  concession  by  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua. 

"The  treaties  relating  to  the  Nicaraguan  route  will 
first  be  considered,  and  these  include  not  only  those 
concluded  with  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua,  but  also 
those  in  which  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  was  one  of 
the  contracting  parties,  as  the  geographical  situation 
requires  the  consent  of  both  these  governments  before  a 
canal  can  be  constructed  on  this  route,  for  though  but 
little  of  the  territory  of  the  latter  will  be  used  in  any  of 
the  proposed  plans,  much  of  it  will  be  affected  thereby. 

"Whatever  doubt  may  have  existed  on  this  point 
was  removed  by  the  award  made  by  President  Cleve- 
land on  the  2 2d  day  of  March,  1888,  in  the  arbitra- 
tion  for   the   settlement   of   differences   which   had 


io6 

arisen  between  the  two  Republics  as  to  their  respective 
boundary  rights,  in  which  it  was  expressly  deter- 
mined that  in  cases  where  the  construction  of  an 
Interoceanic  Canal  across  Nicaragua  will  involve 
an  injury  to  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica,  her 
consent  to  its  construction  is  necessary,  and  she  may 
demand  compensation  for  the  concessions  she  is 
asked  to  make." 


A  conspicuous  instance  in  the  history  of  Nicaraguan 
canal  enterprises  is  discussed  fully  in  the  Report,  and  goes 
to  confirm  the  joint  character  of  the  rights  of  Costa  Rica 
and  Nicaragua  as  grantors  of  canal  concessions.  In  1887 
Nicaragua  granted  to  the  Nicaraguan  Canal  Association 
of  New  York  a  concession  for  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
excavating  and  operating  a  maritime  canal  across  the 
territory  of  Nicaragua,  involving  the  San  Juan  River  and 
Lake  Nicaragua.  Under  this  concession  an  executing 
company  was  organized  under  the  name  of  "The  Mari- 
time Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua,"  and  was  incor- 
porated by  an  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
approved  February  20,  1889.  (Appendix  R  to  Com- 
mission's Report.) 

Immediately  following  this  action^  by  Nicaragua,  the 
concessionary  entered  into  a  similar  contract  with  the 
Government  of  Costa  Rica  (Appendix  Z  to  Commission's 
Report),  understanding  perfectly  that  without  such  joint 
action  its  titles  would  be  insufficient.  Referring  to  this 
transaction,  the  Commission  says: 

''This  contract  was  negotiated  to  supplement  the 
one  already  obtained  from  Nicaragua,  hereinbefore 
mentioned  and  designated  as  Appendix  R,  it  being 

manifest  that  the  project  generally  known  as  the  Nica- 
raguan canal  could  not  be  carried  into  execution  without 
the  consent  and  authority  of  Costa  Rica.  It  conferred 
upon  the  association  and  a  company  to  be  organized 


I07 

to  construct  and  operate  the  proposed  canal  substan- 
tially the  same  rights,  privileges  and  franchises  in  Costa 
Rican  territory  as  had  already  been  conferred  upon 
them  in  Nicaragua.-" 

In  consideration  of  the  above-mentioned  rights,  privi- 
leges and  franchises,  it  was  agreed  in  that  contract  that 
Costa  Rica  should  receive  shares  in  the  capital  stock  of  the 
executing  company  which  were  *'in  no  event  to  be  less 
than  $1,500,000"  in  value  (page  126),  and  Costa  Rica  was 
to  have  "the  same  privilege  of  appointing  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors  that  had  been  granted  to  Nicara- 
gua" (page  126).  In  further  compensation  for  the  privi- 
leges granted,  the  company  consented  that  Costa  Rican 
ships  of  war  and  merchant  vessels  under  the  flag  of  the 
Republic  should  be  entitled  to  use  the  canal  upon  like  terms 
as  were  agreed  to  in  the  contract  with  Nicaragua  with  ref- 
erence to  the  vessels  of  that  Republic  (page  126). 

The  contract  also  contains  provisions  conveying  to  the 
company  such  lands  and  riparian  rights  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  the  construction,  operation  and  control  of  the 
proposed  canal;  these  provisions  are  interesting  here  as 
giving  a  more  intimate  idea  of  the  character  of  Costa 
Rica's  ''natural  rights "  referred  to  in  the  Cleveland  award : 

"Article  XV.  All  the  area  within  the  territory  of 
Costa  Rica,  whether  at  the  ports,  roadsteads,  or 
rivers  of  the  two  oceans,  which  may  be  necessary  for 
the  establishment  of  the  canal,  its  paths,  and  em- 
bankments, or  which  may  be  occupied  and  covered 
by  water  after  raising  the  dams  which  are  to  be  con- 
structed in  the  beds  of  the  rivers,  or  for  all  necessary 
deviations  to  be  made,  as  well  as  for  reservoirs,  dikes, 
spaces  about  the  locks,  stations,  light-houses  and 
canals,  store-houses,  buildings  and  work-shops,  de- 
posits for  materials,  and  also  all  those  required  for 
the  routes,  services,  railways  and  canals  of  the  same 
nature,  for  the  transportation  of  materials  to  the 
hue  of  the  work,  and  for  feeders  of  the  canal;  in  short, 


io8 

all  lands  and  places  within  the  territory  of  Costa 
Rica  necessary  to  the  construction  and  operation  of 
the  canal,  as  may  be  laid  down  in  the  final  drawings 
and  plans  made  by  the  engineers  of  the  association, 
shall  be  placed  by  the  State  at  the  disposal  of  the 
said  association  under  the  conditions  set  forth  in  the 
following  article." 

The  Maritime  Canal  Company  entered  upon  the  work  of 
construction,  but  the  time  expired  within  which  the  most 
essential  conditions  were  to  have  been  complied  with,  the 
undertaking  was  finally  abandoned,  and  the  company's 
contracts  with  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  were  therefore 
declared  void  and  forfeited. 

The  Commission's  Report  also  makes  it  clear  that  in  all 
projects  for  a  canal  that  will  ulitize  the  San  Juan  river  and 
Lake  Nicaragua,  whether  on  the  part  of  individuals,  cor- 
porations, the  United  States,  or  other  governments, 
Costa  Rica  has  been  treated  with  and  consulted  as  a  joint 
party  in  interest  with  Nicaragua  (Report,  pages  124,  125). 
Nothing  could  make  this  status  more  positive  than  the 
attitude  and  action  of  the  United  States  when  the  Com- 
mission's Report  was  presented  to  that  Government  and 
negotiations  were  instituted  with  Great  Britain  for  the 
abrogation  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  and  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty,  in  1 900-1 901.  At 
that  time  the  United  States,  on  the  final  failure  of  the 
French  to  construct  a  canal  through  Panama,  had  deter- 
mined to  undertake  the  construction  of  a  canal  through 
either  Panama  or  Nicaragua,  and  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing to  herself  certain  preliminary  rights,  and  winning  the 
good  will  of  the  two  governments  that  posesssed  a  joint 
interest  in  the  latter  route,  entered  into  the  following 
protocol  with  both  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica.  (But  one 
is  quoted  here  because  the  language  of  both  is  identical 
and  both  were  signed  on  the  same  day.) 


I09 

"It  is  agreed  between  the  two  Governments  that 
when  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  authorized 
by  law  to  acquire  control  of  such  portion  of  the  terri- 
tory now  belonging  to  Costa  Rica  as  may  be  desirable 
and  necessary  on  which  to  construct  and  protect  a 
canal,  of  depth  and  capacity  sufficient  for  the  passage 
of  vessels  of  the  greatest  tonnaage  and  draft  now  in 
use,  from  a  point  near  San  Juan  del  Norte  on  the 
Caribbean  Sea,  via  I^ake  Nicaragua  to  Brito  on  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  they  mutually  engage  to  enter  into 
negotiations  with  each  other  to  settle  the  plan  and  the 
agreements  in  detail,  found  necessary  to  accomplish 
the  construction  and  to  provide  for  the  ownership  and 
control  of  the  proposed  canal. 

"As  a  prelimanary  to  such  future  negotiations  it 
is  forthwith  agreed  that  the  course  of  said  canal  and 
the  terminals  thereof  shall  be  the  same  that  were 
stated  in  a  treaty  signed  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  February  5, 
1900,  and  now  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  for  confirmation,  and  that  the  provisions  of 
the  same  shall  be  adhered  to  by  the  United  States  and 
Costa  Rica." 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  foregoing  protocol  is  in  the 
nature  of  la  guarantee  of  the  respect  due  by  the  United 
States  to  Costa  Rica's  canal  site  rights  in  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  such  Costa  Rican  territory  as  it  may  be  necessary 
to  acquire  in  connection  with  the  canal.  It  is  important, 
however,  to  call  attention  to  the  two-fold  character  of  the 
rights  confirmed  in  Costa  Rica  by  the  Cleveland  award: 
(i)  her  rights  in  her  own  exclusive  territory  which  the 
United  States  may  need  to  acquire  as  a  part  of  a  canal  zone 
and  (2)  her  treaty  boundary  rights  in  the  San  Juan  River, 
as  riparian  co-owner,  her  rights  to  compensation  for 
damages  occasioned  by  the  overflow  or  deviation  of  her 
streams  as  a  result  of  construction  work  on  the  San  Juan 
River  or  the  damming  of  her  streams,  and  her  rights  of 
n^,vigation  of  the  entire  San  Juan  River  course.     The  pro- 


no 

tocol  might  be  held  to  be  a  sufficient  guarantee,  in  the 
present  situation,  of  Costa  Rica's  rights  under  the  above 
clause  (i),  but  it  is  not  a  guarantee  with  respect  to  those 
"natural  rights"  confirmed  by  the  Cleveland  award  and 
outlined  in  clause  (2). 

In  the  light  of  the  foregoing,  it  is  respectfully  submitted 
that  the  Chamorro-Bryan  Treaty  now  before  your  Com- 
mittee is  invalid,  inoperative  and  ineffective  to  secure  to 
the  United  States  the  property  rights  and  interests  therein 
sought  to  be  conveyed,  and  is  a  direct  violation  of  the 
sovereignty  of  Costa  Rica,  for  the  following  reasons : 

1 .  Nicaragua  failed  to  consult  the  Government  of  Costa 
Rica  before  entering  into  the  treaty  here  in  question,  as 
she  was  bound  to  do  under  her  agreement  in  the  eighth 
article  of  the  Cafias- Jerez  Treaty  of  April  15,  1858. 

2.  Nicaragua,  before  signing  the  Chamorro-Bryan 
Treaty  failed  to  secure  the  consent  of  the  Government  of 
Costa  Rica,  as  she  was  bound  to  do  under  the  same 
article  (Cafias- Jerez  Treaty  of  1858),  which  President 
Cleveland,  in  confirming  the  validity  of  that  treaty, 
construed  to  mean  that  such  consent  was  necessary. 

3.  In  all  previous  instances  in  which  Nicaragua  has 
entered  into  contracts  with  third  parties  for  canal  rights 
of  way  and  construction,  Costa  Rica  has  been  joined  in 
the  transaction  by  those  parties  who  have  for  their  own 
protection  secured  her  participation  in  contemporaneous 
contracts  of  like  tenor. 

4.  The  United  States,  by  her  identical  protocols  of 
1900,  has  already  committed  herself  to  the  recognition  of 
Costa  Rica's  joint  rights  in  such  canal  contracts  and  con- 
ventions and  to  the  necessity  of  safeguarding  not  only  her 
own  but  Costa  Rica's  interests  by  joining  the  latter  in 
any  eventual  Nicaraguan  canal  transaction. 

The  Chamorro-Bryan  Treaty,  therefore,  cannot,  if 
ratified,  constitute  a  valid,  legal  conveyance  of  the  rights 


Ill 

sought  to  be  secured  by  the  United  States,  in  view  of  the 
legal  incapacity  of  one  of  the  parties  thereto  to  contract 
at  this  time,  and  of  the  inhibition  enforceable  against 
that  party,  under  the  authority  of  the  Cleveland  award. 

While  disavowing  any  desire  or  purpose  to  stand  sel- 
fishly in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  the  important 
project  contemplated  in  the  treaty  before  you,  Costa  Rica 
is  impelled  to  protest  against  its  ratification  until  the 
requirements  prescribed  by  President  Cleveland  shall  have 
been  complied  with. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

Harry  W.  Van  Dyke, 

Counsel  for  Costa  Rica, 
Woodward  Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX  N. 

NICARAGUAN  CANAL  ROUTE. 

February  i8,  igi6. 

The  Senate,  in  executive  session,  considered  and  agreed 
to  the  following  resolution  of  ratification : 

Resolved  {two-thirds  oj  the  Senators  present  concur- 
ring therein) ,  That  the  Senate  advise  and  consent  to 
the  ratification  of  the  convention  between  the 
United  States  and  Nicaragua,  signed  at  Washington 
on  August  5,  1914,  granting  to  the  United  States,  in 
return  for  a  money  payment,  the  exclusive  proprie- 
tary rights  for  the  construction  and  operation  of  an 
interoceanic  canal  by  a  Nicaragua  route,  the  lease  of 
certain  islands,  and  the  right  to  establish  a  naval 
base  on  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca,  with  the  following 
amendments,  to  wit : 

In  Article  I,  line  2,  after  the  words  "United  States," 
insert  a  comma  (,)  and  the  following  words:  "forever 
free  from  all  taxation  or  other  public  charge,"  fol- 
lowed by  a  comma  (,). 

At  the  end  of  Article  III  strike  out  the  period  (.) 
and  add  the  following:  "or  other  public  purposes  for 
the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  Nicaragua  in  a 
manner  to  be  determined  by  the  two  high  contract- 
ing parties,  all  such  disbursements  to  be  made  by 
orders  drawn  by  the  minister  of  finance  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Nicaragua  and  approved  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States  or  by  such  person  as  he 
may  designate." 

Provided,  That  whereas  Costa  Rica,  Salvador,  and 
Honduras  have  protested  against  the  ratification  of 
said  convention  in  the  fear  or  belief  that  said  con- 
vention might  in  some  respect  impair  existing  rights 
of  said  States,  therefore  it  is  declared  by  the  Senate 
that  in  advising  and  consenting  to  the  ratification  of 
the  said  convention  as  amended  such  advice  and 
consent  are  given  with  the  understanding,  to  be 
expressed  as  a  part  of  the  instrument  of  ratification, 
(112) 


113 

that  nothing  in  said  convention  is  intended  to  affect 
any  existing  right  of  any  of  the  saidjiamed  States. 

^  ^  H:  H<  ^  H:  ^ 

The  yea-and-nay  vote  on  the  ratification  of  the  treaty 
with  Nicaragua  resulted— yeas  55,  nays  18. 

So  the  treaty  with  Nicaragua  was  ratified  and  made 
public,  as  follows: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  being  animated 
by  the  desire  to  strengthen  their  ancient  and  cordial 
friendship  by  the  most  sincere  cooperation  for  all 
purposes  of  their  mutual  advantage  and  interest  and 
to  provide  for  the  possible  future  construction  of  an 
interoceanic  ship  canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  vthe  great  Lake  of  Nicaragua,  or  by  any  route 
over  Nicaraguan  territory,  whenever  the  construc- 
tion of  such  canal  shall  be  deemed  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  conducive  to  the  interests 
of  both  countries,  and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
wishing  to  facilitate  in  every  way  possible  the  suc- 
cessful maintenance  and  operation  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  the  two  Governments  have  resolved  to  con- 
clude a  convention  to  these  ends,  and  have  accord- 
ingly appointed  as  their  plenipotentiaries : 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Hon.  Wil- 
liam Jennings  Bryan,  Secretary  of  State;  and 

The  President  of  Nicaragua,  Senor  General  Don 
Emiliano  Chamorro,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minis- 
ter Plenipotentiary  of  Nicaragua  to  the  United  States ; 

Who,  having  exhibited  to  each  other  their  respec- 
tive full  powers,  found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form, 
have  agreed  upon  and  concluded  the  following 
articles : 

Artici^E  I.  The  Government  of  Nicaragua  grants 
in  perpetuity  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
forever  free  from  all  taxation  or  other  public  charge, 
the  exclusive  proprietary  rights  necessary  and  con- 


114 

venient  for  the  construction,  operation,  and  mainte- 
nance of  an  interoceanic  canal  by  way  of  the  San 
Juan  River  and  the  great  Lake  of  Nicaragua  or  by 
way  of  any  route  over  Nicaraguan  territory,  the 
details  of  the  terms  upon  which  such  canal  shall  be 
constructed,  operated,  and  maintained  to  be  agreed 
to  by  the  two  Governments  whenever  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  shall  notify  the  Govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua  of  its  desire  or  intention  to  con- 
struct such  canal. 

Art.  II.  To  enable  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  protect  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  proprie- 
tary rights  granted  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  by  the  foregoing  article,  and  also  to  enable 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  take  any 
measure  necessary  to  the  ends  contemplated  herein, 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  hereby  leases  for  a 
term  of  99  years  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  the  islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  known  as 
Great  Corn  Island  and  Little  Corn  Island;  and  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua  further  grants  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  a  like  period  of 
99  years  the  right  to  establish,  operate,  and  main- 
tain a  naval  base  at  such  place  on  the  territory  of 
Nicaragua  bordering  upon  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca  as 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  may  select. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the 
option  of  renewing  for  a  further  term  of  99  years  the 
above  leases  and  grants  upon  the  expiration  of  their 
respective  terms,  it  being  expressly  agreed  that  the 
territory  hereby  leased  and  the  naval  base  which  may 
be  maintained  under  the  grant  aforesaid  shall  be 
subject  exclusively  to  the  laws  and  sovereign  author- 
ity of  the  United  States  during  the  terms  of  such 
lease  and  grant  and  of  any  renewal  or  renewals  thereof. 

Art.  III.  In  consideration  of  the  foregoing  stipula- 
tion and  for  the  purposes  contemplated  by  this  con- 
vention and  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  present 
indebtedness  of  Nicaragua,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  shall,  upon  the  date  of  the  exchange  of 
ratification  of  this  convention,  pay  for  the  benefit  of 


115 

the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  the  sum  of  $3,000,000 
United  States  gold  coin,  of  the  present  weight  and 
fineness,  to  be  deposited  to  the  order  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua  in  such  bank  or  banks  or  with 
such  banking  corporation  as  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  may  determine,  to  be  applied  by 
Nicaragua  upon  its  indebtedness  or  other  public 
purposes  for  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  Nica- 
ragua in  a  manner  to  be  determined  by  the  two  high 
contracting  parties,  all  such  disbursements  to  be 
made  by  orders  drawn  by  the  minister  of  finance 
of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  and  approved  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  or  by  such 
person  as  he  may  designate. 

Art.  IV.  This  convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the 
high  contracting  parties  in  accordance  with  their 
respective  laws,  and  the  ratifications  thereof  shall  be 
exchanged  at  Washington  as  soon  as  possible. 

In  witness  whereof  the  respective  plenipotentiaries 
have  signed  the  present  treaty  and  have  affixed 
thereunto  their  seals. 

Done  at  Washington,  in  duplicate,  in  the  English 
and  Spanish  languages,  on  the  qth  day  of  August, 
in  the  year  1914.  Bancroft  Library 

W11.1.1AM  Jennings  Bryan,     [seai^.] 
Emiuano  Chamorro.  [seai,.] 

(From  Congressional  Record,  of  Washington,   No.  49, 
of  February  18,  1916.) 


APPENDIX  O. 

Washington,  D.  C, 

February   21,    igi6. 

Mr.  Secretary:  The  many  and  peremptory  occupations 
that  now  crowd  upon  Your  Excellency  as  a  result  of  the 
world  upheaval  must  have  made  it  impossible  for  Your 
Excellency  to  devote  the  time  necessary  for  a  study  of  the 
note  which  I  had  the  honor  to  address  to  Your  Excellency 
on  the  2nd  instant,  protesting  against  the  perfecting  of  the 
Bryan-Chamorro  canal  convention,  and  of  the  printed 
Memorandum  on  the  subject  prepared  by  the  attorney 
for  the  Legation,  Harry  W.  Van  Dyke,  Esquire,  of  which  I 
took  the  liberty  of  sending  Your  Excellency  several  copies. 

And  I  say  that  it  must  have  been  impossible  for  your  Ex- 
cellency to  inform  yourself  of  the  contents  of  those  docu- 
ments, because,  not  only  has  my  above-mentioned  note  not 
yet  been  honored  by  a  response,  but  on  the  i8th  instant  the 
Senate  gave  its  approval  to  the  treaty  which  Costa  Rica, 
in  the  assertion  of  her  incontrovertible  rights,  had  so 
recently   challenged. 

However  weighty  and  important  may  be  the  opinion 
of  the  Senate,  the  favorable  action  taken  by  that  body  in 
the  matter  of  this  treaty  makes  absolutely  no  difference  in 
the  nature  of  the  case. 

The  Senate,  in  ratifying  the  agreement  subscribed  by 
ex-Secretary  Bryan,  could  in  no  measure  free  that  agree- 
ment from  the  fundamental  defect  that  renders  it  void,  to 
wit,  the  incompleteness  of  Nicaragua's  capacity  to  nego- 
tiate that  pact. 

The  United  States  has  treated  with  a  party  that  is 
without  capacity  to  contract  obligations  in  this  matter, 
and  the  pact  by  which  the  United  States  believes  it  has 
acquired  certain  rights  is  nothing  (and  there  is  not  a  better 

(116) 


117 

occasion  for  the  justified  use  of  this  now  well-known  ex- 
pression) but  a  scrap  of  paper. 

But  however  inocuous  may  be  the  action  of  the  Senate 
to  affect  the  fundamentals  of  the  question,  it  has  neverthe- 
less brought  about  a  notable  change  in  the  situation  of 
Costa  Rica ;  the  affront  to  my  Government  which  it  claims 
to  have  received  as  a  result  of  the  contemptuous  disregard 
of  its  rights  by  the  conclusion,  without  its  knowledge,  of  a 
pact  that  should  have  been,  at  its  inception,  submitted 
to  my  Government  for  approval,  has  ceased  to  be  mere- 
ly potential — it  is  a  consummated  fact.  Since  the  vital 
defect  that  invalidates  the  treaty  and  that  my  Govern- 
ment interprets  as  an  affront  to  the  sovereign  in- 
tegrity of  Costa  Rica,  dates  from  the  very  instant  when 
the  convention  was  negotiated,  the  safeguarding  clause  is 
worthless  which,  at  the  last  moment,  without  previous 
notice  to,  or  the  consent  of,  this  Legation,  was  added  to  the 
text  of  the  convention  for  the  purpose  of  holding  harmless 
the  rights  of  other  parties  that  considered  themselves 
affected  by  the  pact. 

For  many  months  my  Government  has  been  active 
before  the  Government  of  Your  Excellency  in  opposition 
to  this  consummation,  and  since  all  its  efforts  have  been 
in  vain,  I  have  no  other  course,  at  the  moment,  but  to 
lodge  with  you  a  formal  protest  against  what  has  taken 
place  and  to  await  the  arrival  of  further  instructions 
informing  me  as  to  the  best  means,  in  the  opinion  of  my 
Government,  of  solving  the  lamentable  problem  now  con- 
fronting us. 

I  beg  Your  Excellency  to  accept  the  assurances  of  my 
highest  and  most  distinguished  consideration. 

ManueIv  Castro  Quesada. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Robert  Lansing, 

Secretary  of  State,  Washington. 


APPENDIX  P. 

Legation  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
San  Jose,  February  21,  igi6. 
No.  138. 

ExcelIvEncy:  I  am  instructed  to  inform  Your  Excel- 
lency as  follows,  to  wit : 

''The  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  the  eigh- 
teenth instant,  by  a  vote  of  fifty-five  to  eighteen, 
consented  to  the  ratification  of  the  Nicaragua  Treaty, 
with  the  following  amendments : 

"Article  i,  line  2,  after  the  words  'United  States' 
insert  comma  and  the  following  words,  'forever  free 
from  all  taxation  and  other  public  charges,'  followed 
by  comma. 

"At  end  of  Article  3,  strike  out  period  and  add  the 
following :  '  or  other  public  purposes  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  welfare  of  Nicaragua  in  a  manner  to  be 
determined. by  the  two  High  Contracting  Parties,  all 
such  disbursements  to  be  made  by  orders  drawn  by 
the  Minister  of  Finance  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua 
and  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  or  by  such  person  as  he  may  designate.' 

' '  The  resolution  of  ratification  contains  the  follow- 
ing clause:  'Provided,  That  whereas  Costa  Rica, 
Salvador,  and  Honduras  have  protested  against  the 
ratification  of  said  Convention  in  the  fear  or  belief 
that  said  Convention  might  in  some  respect  impair 
existing  rights  of  said  States,  therefore  it  is  declared 
by  the  Senate  that  in  advising  and  consenting  to  the 
ratification  of  the  said  Convention  as  amended,  such 
advice  and  consent  are  given  with  the  understanding 
to  be  expressed  as  part  of  the  instrument  of  ratifica- 
tion that  nothing  in  said  Convention  is  intended  to 
affect  any  existing  rights  of  any  of  the  said  named 
States.'  " 

I  am  further  instructed  to  request  that  Your  Excellency's 
Government  will  have  the  goodness  to  inform  the  press  of 

(118) 


119 

Costa  Rica  of  the  foregoing  action  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States. 

I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  to  repeat  to  Your  Excel- 
lency the  assurance  of  my  most  distinguished  considera- 
tion. 

(Signed)  E.  J.  HAI.E. 
To  His  Excellency, 

Sefior  Don  Mariano  Guardia, 

Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  etc.,  San  Jose. 


APPENDIX  Q. 

(This  is  the  EngHsh  text  of  the  Cleveland  award  repro- 
duced herein  as  Appendix  CH.) 


(120) 


APPENDIX  R. 

Department  of  State, 

Washington,  March  i,  iqi6. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
notes  of  February  2,  8,  and  21,  191 6,  in  which  you  again 
protest  on  behalf  of  your  Government  against  the  treaty 
between  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  and  that  of  the 
United  States,  which  v/as  ratified  by  the  United  States 
Senate  on  February  18,  191 6, 

The  views  of  the  Department  regarding  the  protest  of 
Costa  Rica  against  the  treaty  under  consideration  were 
set  forth,  at  some  length,  in  the  Department's  note  of 
August  I,  191 4,  to  Sefior  Don  Joaquin  Bernardo  Calvo, 
then  Minister  of  Costa  Rica  to  the  United  States.  Those 
views  are  believed  to  be  applicable  equally  well  to  the 
present  protest,  as  embodied  in  your  personal  notes  under 
acknowledgment.  I  reiterate  what  was  then  said,  namely, 
that  the  treaty  was  not  designed  and  is  not  believed  to 
infringe  any  right  or  interest  of  Costa  Rica,  or  of  any  of 
the  countries  adjacent  to  Nicaragua.  In  this  relation 
permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  a  provision  in  the 
resolution  of  ratification  of  the  convention  passed  by  the 
United  States  Senate  on  February  18,  1916,  as  follows: 

''Provided,  That  whereas  Costa  Rica,  Salvador, 
and  Honduras  have  protested  against  the  ratification 
of  said  Convention  in  the  fear  or  belief  that  said  Con- 
vention might  in  some  respect  impair  existing  rights 
of  said  States,  therefore  it  is  declared  by  the  Senate  that 
in  advising  and  consenting  to  the  ratification  of  the 
said  Convention  as  amended  such  advice  and  consent 
are  given  with  the  understanding,  to  be  expressed  as 
a  part  of  the  instrument  of  ratification,  that  nothing 
in  said  Convention  is  intended  to  aff"ect  any  existing 
right  of  any  of  the  said  named  States." 
(121) 


122. 

In  the  light  of  the  declaration  of  the  Department  in  its 
note  of  August  i,  19 14,  referred  to,  and  of  the  aforesaid 
explicit  declaration  by  Congress,  I  am  unable. to  perceive 
any  ground  for  protest  on  the  part  of  your  Government. 

In  conclusion  I  beg  leave  to  remind  you  that  on  Decem- 
ber I,  1900,  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  each  executed  a 
separate  protocol  of  an  agreement  with  the  United  States, 
whereby  each  of  the  said  Governments  separately  became 
engaged  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  United  States 
to  settle  the  details  of  agreements  found  necessary  to 
accomplish  the  ownership  and  control  by  the  United  States 
of  an  interoceanic  canal  route  from  San  Juan  del  Norte 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  agreement  contemplated .  by 
the  said  protocol  with  Nicaragua  has  in  part  at  least  been 
embodied  in  the  treaty  under  discussion,  and,  since  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  has  indicated  its  willing- 
ness to  enter  into  negotiations  for  the  conclusion  ,of  a 
similar  nature  with  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica,  I  am 
not  able  to  perceive  wherein  the  treaty  which  has  been 
concluded  with  Nicaragua  can  be  thought  to  affect  ad- 
versely any  existing  right  of  the  neighboring  Republics 
or  to  indicate  an  intent  upon  the  part  of  the  United  States 
to  ignore  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica. 

Accept,  sir,  the  renewed  assurances  of  my  highest  con- 
sideration. 

Robert  Lansing. 


Bern  MANtTAL  Oasxho  Quesada, 
MinUttpr  ef  Costa  Bica, 
Wmshh^i*on 


^ 


